Nineteen-year-old Shay Nicholson is still in critical condition following a shooting in Harrisonburg last weekend. His friends are organizing a vigil for him this Saturday while he recovers at the UVA Medical Center.

Cindy Wood is a close friend of Nicholson and she's trying to encourage as many people as possible to support him at the vigil, which is scheduled to be at Gypsy Hill Park Saturday evening.

"He's an amazing person," says Wood. "He's never sad or upset. If someone makes him mad intentionally, he just laughs it off."

Nicholson was shot in the head at an off-campus apartment complex early Sunday morning. His shooter remains at large.

"People are pretty (angry) and pretty upset about it, but I hope the police find who they are and that they get justice for it because what they did was just ignorant," says Wood.

Wood and other friends are using Website such as Facebook.com to share their outrage at Nicholson's shooter and to share their support for Nicholson and his family.

"He's always smiling. He's never frowning. He's always making jokes," says Wood. "It's sad that something like this had to happen to him because he didn't deserve it."

Wood says she will have candles available for people to buy as a donation for the family at the vigil. She's been talking to family members for the last several days and is trying to stay optimistic about his recovery.

"He's strong mentally and physically," says Wood. "If he doesn't pull through it's going to be a big shock to everybody. But everybody (the community, all of his friends, all of his family), they're pretty much sure that he's going to make it, and that everything's going to be fine."

Harrisonburg Police say they're getting help from federal agencies to try to find the shooter. They haven't confirmed yet if the shooting is gang-related, but they do say they're confident they'll make an arrest.