A photo of Shane Colombo and his mother, Tonya Nishimuta-Colombo, celebrating on Shane’s graduation day from SF State University appears on a GoFundMe page created to help pay for Shane Colombo’s transportation home.
A SF State graduate was shot and killed by a stray bullet in Chicago on Sunday, less than a day after he moved to the city to begin a doctorate degree at Northwestern University.
Shane Colombo, 25, had survived lymphoma when he was 15, and went on to enter the field of psychology, earning a B.A. in psychology at SF State.
The California native and his partner, Vincent Perez, had just moved into a condo the day of the shooting.
“I miss him,” Perez said in a video posted Wednesday titled “Shane is going home.”
Colombo was walking to a store to buy clothes hangars on Tuesday night, his mother Tonya Nishimuta-Colombo told ABC News.
He was killed in the crossfire of two men shooting at each other, according to Chicago police. Police released a series of images from a security video capturing three men they believe to be involved running away from the location after shots were fired.
Colombo’s death ended his trajectory into a successful career in psychology. His dedication as an undergraduate at SF State allowed him to assist with research on schizophrenia at UCSF. After graduation, he conducted research at Columbia University using functional neuroimaging techniques. And he had just earned a full scholarship to Northwestern University’s PhD program in psychology.
All the while, he created bonds with people from California to New York.
“Shane touched each and every person who knew him,” stated a post signed by the Columbia University Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience Lab.
The comments accompanied a GoFundMe page dedicated to helping with funeral costs.
“He brought his vivacious smile into our lab every single day, caring deeply for the people around him,” it states. “His heart was so full of love and his positive attitude persevered through the most challenging circumstances. Words can’t describe how much we all already miss having him in the Lab.”
The GoFundMe site was less than $1,000 short of its $10,000 goal by Thursday. A second GoFundMe page set up to pay for the cost of transporting Colombo home surpassed its $20,000 goal by nearly $3,000.
“Always the light of the room, Shane will be remembered as being a passionate, kind, intelligent, patient, and loving person,” stated the GoFundMe page. “Shane was a son, brother, fiancé, uncle, and friend to all.”
Read the entire story in Tuesday’s Xpress.
