Two funds for the sur­viv­ing fam­i­ly mem­bers of a young man who was shot dead in Flori­da on Tues­day night com­bined reached about $250,000.

Dustin Wake­field, 21, of Cas­tle Rock, was shot at a Mia­mi Beach restau­rant as he pro­tect­ed his 1‑year-old-son from the alleged shoot­er, Tamar­ius Blair Davis Jr., 22, of Nor­cross, Ga. Wake­field, a plumber’s appren­tice, was with fam­i­ly in Flori­da on vacation.

On Thurs­day night, two GoFundMe pages com­bined, start­ed by his fam­i­ly mem­bers, had more than 4,500 donors. One page had raised about $226,000 as of 7 p.m. Thurs­day, the oth­er page just under $50,000.

Wake­field was a plumber’s appren­tice with Design Mechan­i­cal Inc., said Car­los Vig­il, a fel­low appren­tice and close friend.

“He was one of the best peo­ple I’ve ever met,” said Vig­il, 26. “A real hum­ble individual.”

Vig­il also has a young son, about the same age as Wakefield’s boy.

“He was eager and excit­ed, he loved being a fam­i­ly man and he always talked about his wife and son,” Vig­il said. “He had every­thing going for him.”

On Wakefield’s Linkedin page, he talked about how he came to be mechan­i­cal­ly inclined.

“Ever since I was a kid, I would always be out in the garage help­ing my dad with all the dif­fer­ent projects that he had. He taught me how to use pow­er tools cor­rect­ly and safe­ly, and the basics of how things work. Because of these expe­ri­ences, I have become mechan­i­cal­ly inclined and have no prob­lem work­ing with all dif­fer­ent kinds of tools,” Wake­field said. “One of the most impor­tant things he taught me was to be a man of integri­ty. At first, I didn’t know what this meant, but have since learned that it means to be a man of your word, even when no one is watch­ing. It means to be hon­est and truth­ful, and to be a man that every­one can count on.”

Vig­il recalled that Wake­field enjoyed doing sim­ple things to help peo­ple get through their days, like pick­ing up a lunch tab, offer­ing a ride home to some­one who need­ed one, and lend­ing an ear to lis­ten to a friend’s problems.

“He was wise way beyond his years,” Vig­il said. “It’s a shame, a shame he was tak­en from us.”