Of all the people packed into McCarthy's Sports Bar and Grill Saturday afternoon, the focus was on the one person who was not there, Kelly Acosta.
"He's like the shining light, always helpful, always, just always available," Laura Moshel, friend, said.
The 29-year-old was shot and killed around 4:30 a.m. on February 18 outside his apartment in Aurora. Police have not released much information about the investigation, but his friends say he was shot while trying to stop a man from beating a woman.
"He was a hero to all of us before any of this," Brittany Allen, friend, said.
Acosta was long time bartender in Aurora, working at a few establishments in the area of Chambers Road and Smoky Hill Road.
"Everybody just loved Kelly. He was that bartender that everybody would follow from one place to another," Moshel said.
She says his personality was infectious.
"His laugh, his dimples, he's Kelly," Moshel said.
Allen says he was just a big teddy bear.
"He's been my voice of reason for the six, seven years I've known him now," Allen said. "He would've laid down his life for me for any of us."
The benefit concert at McCarthy's and another one Sunday at another bar, The Emerald Isle will pay for costs related to his funeral and to towards a charity in his name.
"Kelly, he wasn't about money," Moshel said. "I don't think he would've wanted it to go just to him."
But, what Moshel and Allen want most is for his killer to be found. If you know anything about this case, you are asked to call Sergeant Matt Fyles. He works at the Aurora Police Department within the Major Crimes/Homicide Unit. His phone number is 303-739-6041.
"He didn't have to die like that," Moshel said.
Allen wants answers.
"It is the most frustrating, terrifying thing in the entire world," Allen said.
