Raleigh, N.C. — Timothy Barnwell was gunned down outside a North Raleigh apartment building Friday afternoon. While detectives search for his killer, Barnwell's friends and family are looking back on his life.

Barnwell, 34, was found outside of his second-story apartment after witnesses reported hearing three or four gunshots just after noon at the Windsor Falls Apartments on Sunbow Falls Lane. He later died at WakeMed.

“I couldn't breathe. It was so horrible a thing to hear,” said Rev. Diane Corlett, who was his pastor at the Church of the Nativity in Raleigh for more than 15 years.

Corlett said knew Barnwell when he was just a teenager.

“He was then just as remarkable a young man as he was yesterday,” she said.

Corlett has counseled Barnwell’s family since his death. Through her, his parents spoke of their only child.

“In the wake of his murder, the family asks that we remember Timothy not as a statistic (or as) one more young black male dead by reason of senseless violence, but as an intelligent, kind, talented, funny and spiritually centered young man,” the family’s statement said.

The family also asked the community to pray that the killer might be found swiftly and be brought to justice.

The suspect is described as a black male with medium skin tone standing approximately 5 feet 10 inches to 6 feet tall and weighing about 160 to 170 pounds.

The suspect was said to be well groomed and was wearing a dark-colored baseball cap, a dark-colored shirt with the word “SECURITY” in white letters on its front, a dark-colored jacket that was slightly longer than waist length and dark-colored “cargo” style pants.

The suspect fled the scene in a medium-size burgundy car of unknown make.

As authorities search for the culprit, family and friends are choosing to focus on their loss and not on the investigation.

“Tim had 34 years, which is longer than some people have on this earth,” Corlett said.

Funeral services for Barnwell are still incomplete, but have been tentatively set for Wednesday at the Church of the Nativity.