The Woodrow Wilson High School Class of 2008 streamed into Sergio Rivera's Camden townhouse yesterday afternoon, bearing photographs of school dances and trips, and memories of an athletic young man killed in his prime.
They couldn't understand why, a week shy of his 19th birthday, Rivera would have been gunned down at a Lawnside community center on Easter.
"He wouldn't want us to be crying," said his older brother, James Harris, while embracing friend Reyna Solis. "Keep your head up."
Investigators have released few details of Rivera's death, other than to say that he was shot after a brawl started at the Wayne Bryant Community Center during a party.
Someone pulled out a gun and fired into the floor, prosecutors said. The gunman left the party, and Rivera followed him, prosecutors said.
He was shot outside the community center at 10:40 p.m. and died at the scene.
Rumors about what sparked the fight were rampant in the neighborhood where Rivera lived, but his friends described him as an unlikely victim of violence.
"He showed everyone respect," said Khan Hassan. "I treated him like a role model. He was someone to look up to."
The nature of the Lawnside party was unclear yesterday. The community center is operated by the borough and available for rent.
Borough Administrator Dwight Wilson referred questions to Borough Attorney Allen Zeller, who did not return a phone call seeking comment.
Rivera graduated in June from Wilson, where he played football and ran track. His longtime girlfriend, Daja Chambers, walked around the townhouse yesterday clutching one of his old black-and-orange jerseys.
His friends and family members were devastated. Rivera gave "support for everybody he met," said Harris. "All we can do is move on."
"He was more than a man," he said. "He was a man with a plan."
Anyone with information on the shooting is being urged to contact Camden County Prosecutor's Office Investigator Eric Wren at 856-225-8400 or Lawnside Patrolman Daniel Battista at 856-573-6204.