A memorial service was held at The Chapel of the Cross in Chapel Hill Wednesday afternoon for University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill junior Courtland Smith, who was shot to death by police early Sunday morning near Greensboro.
More than 200 members of the UNC community took part in the service, including much of the university's greek community, The (Raleigh) News & Observer reported Wednesday.
Smith was president of UNC's chapter of Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity. He dialed 911 just before 4:45 a.m. Sunday and asked the emergency dispatcher for help. Smith sounded distressed and admitted to drinking "a little." He told the dispatcher he was carrying a 9 mm pistol in the 911 recording released Wednesday.
Archdale police responded to the 911 call and shot the Houston native at approximately 5 a.m. after Smith confronted the officers, The (Raleigh) News & Observer reported Wednesday. The two officers involved have been placed on paid administrative leave. The State Bureau of Investigation is investigating the incident.
Speakers at the service described an aspiring neurosurgeon who loved outdoor sports and was a positive leader for others. A funeral service will be held for Smith in his hometown of Houston Friday.
Although members of Duke's DKE chapter did not attend the memorial service, the brothers on the Gothic campus are sending a letter of condolence and making a charity donation in Smith's name.
The Duke chapter has not visited the UNC DKE house in order to allow the UNC DKEs to mourn in private, said Duke DKE President Jason Jennings, a senior. Jennings added that Duke DKE members knew Smith fairly well, but mostly in a brotherly sense within the fraternity.
"I had never honestly seen any evidence that Courtland would act in that way. I had only met him face-to-face once, [but] the whole thing just surprised me to begin with," Jennings said. "We knew him and he was a great DKE from what we knew."
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