ANNAPOLIS, Md. — Cory McGhee was almost there that night.
It was June 11 - his best friend Mario Mireles Ruiz was throwing a birthday party for his brother.
At the last minute, McGhee decided not to go.
"I laid down, so I'm like, 'nah I'm not coming out tonight,'" McGhee recalls.
A few hours later, McGhee got a notification on his phone - police activity reported at Paddington Place.
He knew that's where the party was happening, and none of his friends were answering his calls.
So he rushed over and found Mireles Ruiz's wife, Judi.
"Once I got there, I gave her a hug and she told me he was gone," McGhee said.
The party had turned deadly after an argument over parking. According to charging documents, a neighbor had called the city to report a party guest's car blocking her driveway.
When Mireles Ruiz and his friend Christian Segovia went over to talk to her, her son came home, and the fight turned physical.
The son, Charles Smith, allegedly shot and killed both men, then ran inside his home.
Mireles Ruiz's father, Nicholas, rushed over to tend to his son, and police say Smith started shooting through his front window, killing Nicholas, and injuring three others.
"The first thing in his mind, he's a parent, so he's gonna run over there to help his son. And unfortunately, he lost his life saving his son, or trying to save his son," McGhee said.
A lot of people in Annapolis will remember hearing about the events of that night. But maybe they won't remember the names or the faces of the victims.
McGhee found a way to change that, with a mural on a wall inside his business, GVO Sound Studios.
"There's plenty of people that don't even know him, so I feel like anytime somebody walks in my space they'll get to see him, they'll remember. I don't want nobody to ever forget him. So when you come here, you're gonna see him," McGhee.
McGhee's friend, Jeff Huntington, painted the mural in just a couple of days.
He didn't know Mario, Christian, or Nicholas. But he learned about them through this process, and hopes anyone who sees this mural learns about them too.
"I think also the art has the ability to really have healing qualities to it. And just to see them memorialized in a piece of artwork, and hopefully I've done them justice in honoring their memory," Huntington said.
Smith was indicted by a grand jury last week; he now faces 42 counts, including first-degree murder and Race/Religious crimes resulting in death.
He originally told police that his home was shot at first. Witnesses said they did not see any of the victims with a gun.
Smith's defense attorney has also said Smith struggles with PTSD.
