Family members of 22-year-old Justin Wiley confirm that he's the victim killed in a Thursday morning shooting on Erie's west side. He was shot shortly after midnight at the intersection of West 19th and Chestnut Streets.

"I was shocked. I never thought he would die out of nowhere. That's crazy, I just saw him," said Shelasia Noble, an Erie resident who says she saw Wiley hours before his death.

People who knew Wiley stopped by a small memorial now set up where the shooting happened, remembering him on Thursday evening.

"I just saw him last night. He was hanging by my house, turning up with his friends, and all happy with his girlfriend," Noble said. "He was a fun nice person. He was turning up, laughing. And I'm like, oh my God, Justin you're funny," she said.

"He was a great, young, athletic young man with great potential. This didn't have to occur. It should not have occurred," said Calvin Clinton, another Erie resident. Clinton says his son was friends with Wiley.

According to Erie police, the victim died of at least one gunshot wound to the head. They arrived on scene to find him dead in the driver's side seat of a car that was riddled with bullets.  

Clinton says he's already hearing rumors of planned retaliation for Wiley's death. But his message: more violence is not the answer.

"Leave the retribution and the nonsense alone. Leave it to the legal authorities. It's enough destruction as it is," Clinton said.

He says when he heard about the fatal shooting, he thought the victim might've been his own son.  

"Actually I thought it was my son because that's who was with him. But it's somebody else's child and that hurts my heart. It could've been me but it's devastating to someone else's family," Clinton said. "It's senseless. It's senseless period."

Erie police continue to investigate.

The Erie County Coroner officially released Wiley's identity late Friday morning.