TRAVERSE CITY — A food lover, a best friend and a music lover were just a few of the ways people closest to Larry Boyd IV described him after his death.
Kristina Hooper, Boyd’s mother, said he loved people, kids and making others smile.
Hooper said he was a good kid most of the time, sharing a memory from when he was young and tried to start a campfire in his bedroom with a plastic bowl.
Boyd had been caring for his mother while she battled cancer. Hooper said her son had a passion for helping people, which guided every career path he took before joining Parking Services in Traverse City.
“He went into law enforcement thinking he’d be able to be in the outreach community,” Hooper said. “And discovered that that was not what he was going to be able to be allowed to do. So after four car accidents, he went into teaching, and he liked to work with youths that were troubled because he wanted to be a role model, somebody that would be a positive influence in their life.”
Boyd’s girlfriend, Amanda Evans, said he loved her children and helped take her 15-year-old daughter to school in the mornings. She said he made it to most of the girls’ home track meets and often cheered her on from the sidelines.
Amanda and Boyd had planned to visit the Traverse City Lights Show this weekend, plans she said will now never happen.
Prosecutors say 17-year-old Eugene Thompson is responsible for Boyd’s death. Boyd was allegedly shot and killed by Thompson while Thompson and 18-year-old Hunter Vanderwall were breaking into vehicles inside the Larry C. Hardy Parking Deck.
Both were formally charged on Tuesday in Grand Traverse County.