Hundreds of students attended a remembrance vigil honoring Wilson King last night, who was fatally struck by a vehicle early last Friday morning.

The vigil started at 7 p.m. and was held in the Governor’s Ballroom in the Driscoll Student Center.

“We are gathered here this evening by death, the end of a good person’s life, a tragic end of a good person’s short life, the life of Wilson King,” said University Chaplain Gary Brower. “Though we will mourn, for mourn we must, there must also be a time for remembering the person he was, and let this be a time for affirming the kind of life which he lived.”

Several of King’s Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity members recalled their times with King, who was a second year business major from Winnetka, Ill.

“Wilson King was a special, special guy,” said close friend Charlie Struthers. “He was such a ‘yes’ kind of guy; he never said ‘no’ to anything.”

SAE President Parker Roe also shared his memories of King.

“He did what he wanted to do and he made himself happy and consequently, he brought up everyone else around him in a way that I’ve never seen anyone else do,” said Roe.

Fraternity brother Patrick Machell said King was a “truly remarkable person and great friend.”

“His energy, smile, laughter and his personality were all infectious to everyone he met,” said Machell. “What I want people to remember about Wilson is that from the moment he set foot on this campus, to early that Friday morning, he loved his time here and the people that he spent time with.”

Another fraternity brother, Chad Ledy called King “one of the best people I’ve ever met.”

“As a chapter, we’ve been together a ton and we’ve had a ton of opportunities to share stories and awesome memories and just all the things that Wilson was really about,” said Ledy. “It kind of took each of us individually to find out our own little piece of him.”

Roe encouraged everyone to be a little bit more like King.

“We need to do everything in our power to make ourselves a little bit happier and in turn, we’ll all be a little bit better from it,” said Roe. “He would really really appreciate this. I love you buddy, I know you’re looking down on us.”

DU addressed King’s death with “great sadness” in an official statement to the DU community.

“During difficult times like this it is important that our DU community come together to support one another,” said the DU statement.

According to Denver Police Department spokesman Aaron Kafer, the accident took place at 12:38 a.m. near East Evans Avenue and South High Street.

“It appeared that the victim had tried to cross Evans midwalk, so he was not in the intersection when he was struck,” said Kafer.

King was pronounced dead at the scene. The driver of the vehicle involved stayed; Kafer said the police do not suspect that alcohol was involved on the part of the driver.

Campus Safety Sgt. Stephen Banet said there were four DPD police cars on the scene when Campus Safety arrived. Shortly after they got there, paramedics arrived.

According to Banet, there have been a number of vehicle-pedestrian or vehicle bicycle accidents over the last three or four years. Banet said students need to take extra precautions, especially when crossing high traffic streets like University and Evans.

“I think they need to use the crosswalks and wait for the lights to cross the street,” said Banet. “I know it can be an inconvenience but it sure is a safer way of doing things.”

Banet could not comment on more specific details of the tragedy due to the ongoing investigation.

Director of Counseling Services Jacaranda Palmateer said counselors are available to talk to students.

“When we have, obviously, a tragedy like this on campus, we want to make sure people are aware of what we have available normally, but then also really encourage people to call,” said Palmateer. “We’re happy to come and meet with folks that are affected as a group, or we’re happy to meet one on one with people as well.”

Students interested in talking with HCC counselors can call 303-871-2205.