A 23-year-old native of upstate New York who moved to Washington, D.C. to volunteer at an organization that helps high school students, was shot and killed during an attempted robbery in the nation’s capital. last week, police and loved ones said.
Ryan Realbuto, a recent college graduate, was shot and killed Thursday around 10 p.m. when an armed suspect demanded money as he and two friends walked home from a youth gathering at a church, according to family.
“While they were walking, a car pulled up, the men asked for money, a person got out of the car and when no one took out cash, the person shot Ryan,” his aunt wrote on a verified GoFundMe page.
Realbuto was rushed to a local hospital where he was pronounced dead, Metro DC police said.
“Ryan was passionate about doing any type of community service,” his aunt wrote.
“I wasn’t motivated by making large sums of money, but rather thrived on being able to help people in need,” he said. “Ryan had a gentle soul and he was a kind human being filled with nothing but innocence.”
Ryan Realbuto was remembered as a young man who loved volunteering and helping others. Facebook
The victim was from the town of Pittsfield, a suburb of Rochester, and was a 2023 graduate of St. Bonaventure University. She had been in DC for six months and was working with the Capuchin Franciscan Volunteer Corps.
He volunteered at Maryland-based Don Bosco Cristo Rey High School, where he helped at-risk students in a work-study program, his family said.
Realbuto and other volunteers receive a small monthly stipend each month while living in communal housing, his family said.
“It’s like a nightmare you can’t even imagine,” his mother Janet Realbuto, 62, told the Washington Post.
The native New Yorker had lived in DC for about six months after graduating from college. GoFundMe
“I pray a lot that they find whoever did this. She was the most gentle, kind and attentive person. “For someone to just walk up and point a gun at you for no reason is beyond my world.”
Police are offering $25,000 to anyone who can provide information about the case that leads to an arrest.
Washington has been besieged by a rise in crime: homicides increased by 35% and robberies by 67% between 2022 and 2023, according to police data.
Volunteer Corps Program Director Margaret McIntyre-Stacy said the gunman didn’t take anything from Realbuto or his friends.
“They took nothing of value, except the most valuable,” he said.
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Source: vtt.edu.vn