MOUNT AIRY, M.d. — On Sunday evening, hundreds gathered to honor the teen who died after he was swept into a drainage pipe by flash floods last week.
WATCH: Vigil held for Mount Airy teen killed by flash flood
13-year-old Mason Kearns was playing near a drainage ditch on Main Street and Watersville Road, just feet from his doorstep, when heavy rains began to fall early Thursday evening.
His 15-year-old brother witnessed the strong current sweep him off his feet, and pull him into the uncovered drainage pipe where Kearns would later succumb to his injuries.
His brother, mother and neighbors all attempted to free him but the water pressure was too strong to overcome. More than 50 emergency responders from Mount Airy and beyond answered the rescue call and tried everything to free him.
“I think that once he was in that pipe, there was just no chance," public information officer for the Mount Airy Fire Volunteer Company Doug Alexander said. “You just can’t fathom how this happened, you know? And I think that this vigil will be the first big step in helping everybody to cope with this loss.”
On Sunday, family remembered Kearns as an outgoing, social butterfly who enjoyed being outside whenever possible. Most often he could be found at skateparks which were "his sanctuary" according to Aunt Allison Eggleston.
“Through every adversity Mason had faced in life, he was never seen without a smile on his beautiful face. There was never a negative statement, thought or vibe," Eggleston, who is also a member of the MAVFD, recalled. "Mason saw the light in every scenario involving darkness.”
Just as the sun was setting over Watkins Skate Park, hundreds of candles illuminated the dark for Kearns.
Skating was a shared passion for Kearns and his dad.
“The things that looked terrifying, he wasn’t afraid of," his grandmother Bonnie Errico said. “I want them to remember that he was a good kid who could have made a lot of good in the world and he’s gone way too soon. Way too soon and I don’t know what my life’s going to be like without him.”
A GoFundME post raising money for funeral expenses garnered nearly all of its $50,000 goal Sunday night. There is also an additional fundraiser through the Mount Airy Volunteer Fire Company for restaurant and food gift cards.
“If parents are lucky, they get to save for a wedding or for college but nobody saves for a funeral. I mean, nobody does that. So this has been a Godsend," Errico said.
“Our community always seems to pull together when we need to," Alexander said.
Kearns will be laid to rest later this week.