BALTIMORE, Md — Friends of Bilal Abdullah Jr. say even if you didn't know his name, you likely knew his face.
WATCH: Friends of well-known arabber killed in officer-involved shooting say his involvement "doesn't make sense"
"His routes were very long. They went all over the city, all the way to the east side, all the way out west, I mean. Everybody in the city kind of knew him," Holden Warren told WMAR-2 News on Friday.
"He had one of the most beautiful smiles a person could have, so it's just a tragedy all together," Levar Mullen said.
Known to most as "BJ," he was one of the last arabbers in the city—a term unique to Baltimore to describe street vendors who sell produce from horse-drawn carts.
Levar Mullen is the owner of Carlton Street Stable, home to many arabbers' horses. Holden Warren is the co-founder of Stable Baltimore, a nonprofit that focuses on arabber culture and keeping it alive. Both men knew Abdullah for years.
"I just want him to be remembered as somebody who was really passionate about Baltimore, really passionate about horses, and, and we're gonna remember him as one of the last real arabbers to ever do it," Warren said.
"In order to be an arabber, you have to be a people's person," Mullen told WMAR-2 News. "You have to have a certain level of charismatic about you to be able to relate. So some people will miss his relatability, just being able to see his smile, to hear his arabber call, to hear the bells of the horses coming through."
On Tuesday night, Baltimore police officers were patrolling near the intersection of Pennsylvania Avenue and Laurens Street after 7 p.m. in Upton when they approached a man they believed to be armed.
"The man ran from officers, and a brief struggle ensued when they caught up to him. At some point, the male broke away from an officer pointing the handgun and fired his weapon. An officer was struck in the foot. Multiple officers returned fire, striking the male," Baltimore Police Commissioner Richard Worley said during a Tuesday night press conference.
In a report released by the Maryland Office of the Attorney General based on its preliminary investigation, the language used to describe the first gunshot was softened and made more vague.
The report says, “As the first officer grabbed the man, a firearm was discharged. This prompted the officers to retreat and/or take cover. The man then pointed a firearm at the officers, and three officers exchanged gunfire with the man, striking him. A firearm was recovered from the man and secured by an officer.”
Friends of Abdullah say the account doesn't track with what they know about him as a person.
"A loving guy. Non-confrontational. Non-violent," Mullen said.
"It doesn't make sense," Warren said. "It's shocking. I mean, it's just really, really shocking that this is how his life ended after giving so much to the city, just to be attacked like this. It's just, I don't understand. I'm hoping that when we see the footage, there's more clarity."
Both the Attorney General's office and the Baltimore Police Department will continue to investigate the incident. It's unclear when the body-worn camera footage will be released to the public.