Family and friends of Mario Hornsby are in shock and disbelief. The 19-year old was the captain of Central High's Basketball team.

He wasn't just an athlete. Mario was set to graduate near the top of his class and had plans to go college. His dreams are now only memory for family and friend after he was gunned down early this morning. Indiea Kelly saw the whole thing and was with Mario when he was shot on the steps of her front porch.

"Next thing you know gunshots were firing off and we all tried to run into the porch and somehow when he was going up the steps he got shot," said Kelly.

Family and friends are trying to come to grips with the fact that he's gone. They say they'll never understand how it could happen to such a good kid.

"He was just an awesome kid and exemplified what it means when someone wants to turn their life around and just do something better and understand that there is more to life then what they see," said John Grimes, Hornsby's uncle.

Rhonda Garner says she met Mario at the Springfield Boy's and Girls Club and says the community has lost a mentor.

"You can still live in this neighborhood and make something of yourself and that's what he did he made something of himself," said Garner.

Mario's family says there new mission will be to help put and end to violence in their streets so another life isn't tragically lost.

"When this thing hits home it becomes real and nobody wants to talk about it it's don't ask don't tell don't snitch but when it hits your family you want to know what happened," says Grimes.