RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) — The long-term girlfriend of Cody Woodson, the VCU student killed on Monday, said Woodson was taking out his trash and making a routine trip to the corner store near his house when he died.
Clarisse Liclic told 8News she was with Woodson just minutes before he was shot dead.
Liclic said around 8 on Monday night, Woodson was taking his trash out and met Liclic at her car parked outside of his house on West Marshall Street.
She didn’t know it would be the last time they’d kiss goodbye. “He called out to me and said some flirty joke and I got into my car and left,” Liclic said.
Liclic said she “can only assume” Woodson then walked down Gilmer street, like he always did, to the Clay Express Mart corner store for his favorite tea.
Minutes later, police say he was approached and shot dead.
Woodson’s girlfriend of more than two years said she thinks he was a random victim. “I truly believe he just happened to be on that street at the worst time,” she told 8News. “I would do anything to change the circumstances,” she said.
VCU police said the suspect in Woodson’s death was last seen running west.
Since his death, there’s been an outpouring of love from his close friends and family. “I don’t want people to remember him as a victim, I want people to know who he was. He meant a lot to a lot of people,” said Nicholas Parisi, who organized a Gofundme for the Woodson family that’s raised more than $7,000 so far.
Liclic said her boyfriend was a computer science student who always went above and beyond for students in the classes he was a teacher’s assistant for. “Even though he had set hours he could work, he always stayed for much longer to make sure he could help every student that was waiting, no matter what problem,” she said. His loved one told 8News Woodson wasn’t sure where his career would take him after college but said he had an internship set up for a company in downtown Richmond.
“I loved him more than anything,” said Liclic, a University of Richmond student.
Friends said Woodson was an avid online gamer. Over the years, he grew close friendships with people across the state and country. Many of those people now call him one of their best friends.
“There wasn’t a bad bone in his body. He was the nicest, kindest, most genuine person I’ve ever met,”
Parisi said. The two met a few years ago playing games online and grew close. Parisi said they’ve since met up in person and talked constantly every week.
“He helped me start an online community that kind of brought a lot of us together,” Parisi told 8News. “He was always just the one person that just felt kind of the most real to me.”
He also grew close with Joshua Farnsworth after meeting him online a couple of years ago.
“It’s just devastation,” he said. “Something I wasn’t expecting, I’d planned on seeing him soon.”
He agrees with Liclic’s belief, that Woodson was a random victim.
“I just hope something is done about it. It sucks that there wasn’t more police around on the block, even within 24 hours after the last time it happened. It seems unjust that he was found there and not helped immediately,” he said.
Farnsworth, Parisi and Liclic are among many now wanting justice for their friend killed so young.
“I hope they catch whoever did this and I hope they sit in prison for a long time and think about what they did,” Parisi said.
The Monday night shooting came on the heels of another deadly encounter just a couple of doors down the night before. On Sunday night, an unidentified 17-year-old boy was shot and killed.
Police said they are working to determine if the shootings are at all connected.
RPD Chief Gerald Smith said investigators believe drugs were a factor in the teen’s death, but not in Woodson’s death.
Liclic and Farnsworth said the 20 year old was not involved in drugs.
VCU Police told the community a suspect was in custody on Sunday, but on Tuesday, RPD authorities said no one had been charged for either killing.
Chief Smith said investigators do have leads they’re following up on. Smith said tips they’ve already received from the community have helped immensely in the investigation so far. He asks people to keep sending them in.
Anyone with information about the shootings can call Major Crimes Detective A. Sleem at (804) 814-7123 or Crime Stoppers at (804) 780-1000.
