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Carb Day celebration in honor of Speedway man shot, killed

SPEEDWAY, Ind. (WISH) – In Patty and William Bowman’s garage, there are many reminders of their son, David, including a large mural of him.

“I just think that it depicts David and the way David was,” William said.

He is on a bike with the pagoda in the background and has an Indy 500 beer bong in his hand.

“He was infamous for the beer bong,” William said.

“He definitely was the life of the party for sure,” David’s brother Michael Bowman said. “He kept it going made every body laugh and smile. He just loved everybody.”

And he loved Carb Day.

“It was like Christmas for him,” Michael said.

“David felt his job was to make sure that everybody else had fun,” William said.

“I miss him,” Michael added.

David was buying lottery tickets at a gas station on the city’s northwest side last December when he was shot and killed. Police said his killer was a 17-year-old.

“My father came down to the house and we both got the news at the same time and they showed me a picture of my brother to identify him,” Michael said.

“Just a senseless act of violence that took him away from us,” William said.

It has been a rough journey up until now, David’s favorite day.

“We’re trying to make this a positive, he would have wanted that. He loved to celebrate anything. If the day ended in “Y” he wanted to celebrate,” Michael said.

More than 200 people will gather in the Bowman’s yard and driveway Friday morning to celebrate Carb Day and David.

They’ll then walk to Carb Day to keep his favorite holiday tradition alive. They will also be releasing balloons, one for each of the murder victims in Marion County in 2015.