According to police, 22-year-old Ka'Darian Smith was shot multiple times in his Midtown high-rise apartment on Nov. 4. Police said Smith called his friends saying he had been shot, but ended up dying at the hospital.
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While searching the apartment, authorities said they found 11 pounds of marijuana.
ORIGINAL STORY: Former UH football player identified as Midtown murder victim
"Even though that's just a small piece of the puzzle, it doesn't affect or it shouldn't cloud their judgment about who he was as a person," said Smith's mother, Tanecha Dunn. "There's still a lot of stigma attached to it as well ... with marijuana usage and the selling of marijuana, but I don't want that to distract people from who he was as a person. How he treated people and just human decency."
This week, Devion Michael Hurtado, who was identified as a suspect in Smith's killing, was arrested and charged with capital murder.
Authorities said Hurtado and his friends had visited Smith's apartment to buy marijuana.
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"It was senseless," said Dunn about Hurtado. "He has left a deep pain within me, [Smith's] family, his peers, his teachers .. and it's just ... senseless. My life is forever changed and will be forever changed. I just take it one day at a time and that's all I can do."
The other suspects seen in the video were also identified, but no charges have been filed yet, investigators said.
Before playing for UH, Smith was also a star player for Spring High School.
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