"It is hard to be with someone and then a minute later have him dying in your arms," Ms. Gibbens, 21, said of her friend and the victim, Quidare Buffaloe.
"I was outside with him before they started shooting," she said. "Then I walked into the house and heard gunshots. And that was it. And I didn't know that he was shot until I came outside and saw people crowding around on a curb. And when I looked, I saw his shoes. And that was him on the ground," she said, wiping tears from her eyes and face.
Buffaloe, 23, whose last known address was 1813 Brownstone Blvd., was shot and killed and two others were wounded late Sunday in a South Toledo apartment complex. He was pronounced dead at the University of Toledo Medical Center, the former Medical College of Ohio Hospital.
The case is being investigated as a homicide, according to the police department. The homicide is the 18th in the metro area in 2011.
HOMICIDE REPORT: Toledo-area killings
The shooting occurred about 10:15 p.m. in a parking lot at Westland Gardens Apartments in the 1600 block of Fielding Avenue, according to police.
Sgt. Phil Toney said the victim was with a group of people who were standing around in a parking lot and talking when all of a sudden someone started shooting, hitting Buffaloe and two bystanders.
"There were about six people, me and my friend, and you know just people from around here hanging out, just talking, about to hurt nobody. And the next thing you know somebody came around and just started shooting," Ms. Gibbens said.
"When I came outside, someone was already on the phone [calling 911]; I heard him; I didn't even care who it was. I just wanted to be there with [Buffaloe] and to get him to breathe."
"I revived him. I gave him a CPR and he came back to life," said Ms. Gibbens, who is a certified nurse's assistant. "Then I went up to the hospital with him, and about an hour and a half later they pronounced him dead. He was a very good friend."
The victim had attended Rogers High School and Start High School, eventually receiving a GED. Most recently, he was taking online college courses. He was very good at basketball and enjoyed writing and reading, according to Ms. Gibbens. She said she had known him for a year.
"He wrote poems, rap, just his thoughts," she said.
Police recovered several shell casings at the scene but found no murder weapon. There were no arrests in the case Monday, police said,
"We are still trying to come up with some suspects," Sergeant Toney said.
The wounded victims did not appear to be part of the group of people in which the Buffaloe shooting occurred. Details of the shooting that involved the two victims who lived were unavailable. Each victim was shot once, police said.
Wounded were Randy Popoff, Jr., 25, and Darnell Henson, Jr., 21, both of Toledo. They were taken to University of Toledo Medical Center.
A hospital spokesman said he had no information on people by those names.
Their injuries did not appear to be life-threatening, police said.
Contact Mike Sigov at: sigov@theblade.com or 410-724-6089.