Emotional vigil held for teen killed during robbery attempt

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- There was a hardly a dry eye at the corner of Van Ness and Rialto in Northwest Fresno, where friends and community members stood remembering 17-year-old Nick Kauls.

Lauren Price was a friend of Nick. She said, "He was always so happy, he was always smiling." She also told us she would never forget the first day they met.

"The first day I met him, he offered to walk me to my car," Price said. "I just thought he was a good person and ever since we became friends."

The San Joaquin Memorial senior and standout soccer player was shot twice in the back of the head Sunday night after a suspect approached him and a friend demanding money. It is a reality Ryann Dunkin had a hard time accepting.

"I didn't want to believe it, I don't think anybody wanted to believe it," Dunkin told Action News. "He was one of those people you didn't want to see gone."

Over the phone, we spoke with Mona Faulkner, the superintendent for Nick's school. She told us they are already orchestrating ways to honor his life.

"His mother asked if he would receive an honorary diploma for Memorial and I granted that request," Faulkner said.

Now friends are left with the many memories made, while also using prayer to guide them through life without their beloved Nick Kauls, a young man who was innocently gunned down.