NEW BRAUNFELS, Texas – Hundreds gathered Wednesday evening to remember 17-year-old Conrad Kuntz, who police said was murdered over the weekend.
On Wednesday, New Braunfels police detained a second suspect, a 16-year-old boy, at his home in New Braunfels and charged him with murder. They arrested a 15-year-old from Marion on Sunday. Both are being held at the Guadalupe County Juvenile Detention Center.
Kuntz's parents and sister stood among the attendees on the bank of the Comal River, where Kuntz spent his summer lifeguarding for the city at the tube chute. Many attendees wore his favorite color — orange.
Kuntz’s fellow swimmers on the New Braunfels High School swim team wore their team shirts.
Conrad Copeland swam with him before he graduated, but continued to work with Kuntz as a lifeguard. He was with him just hours before the 17-year-old was shot and killed Saturday.
"You never thought that it'd be the last time you ever saw him again, but that last day was a good day. Everyone was really happy," Copeland said.
Going into his senior year at New Braunfels High School, Kuntz was a three-year varsity member of the swim team and an Academic All-American. He is remembered as a ray of light and as a competitor.
"He was always keeping people in a good mood," Haley Hollas said.
"He was in it to win it … He went hard in his races, but beforehand, before and after, it was all lightheartedness," Copeland said.
Attendees released balloons and lit candles at the vigil.
A young man gone too soon. Many said he wasn't afraid of a challenge or to lift up those around him.
"I've seen Conrad jump in the water and save one, two, even three people at once and then come back out after making sure they're fine, just smiling," lifeguard Ben Bailey said.
"That smile, that smile, he always had a smile on his face, always," lifeguard Luke Heywood said.
The park planted a pecan tree to grow in his honor near the bank of the river, the same type surrounding his family home on Lake Dunlap.
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