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'It's like I'm sleeping': Father in disbelief after teen son was killed in Oakville triple shooting

The shooting at Black Forest Apartment Complex left 15-year-old Collin Courtwright dead along with his teenage friend and a third injured.

ST. LOUIS COUNTY, Mo. — A father is remembering his teenage son who was killed in a triple shooting in Oakville on Monday afternoon.

The shooting at Black Forest Apartment Complex also left his friend dead and another person injured.

St. Louis County police identified one of the boys who died as 15-year-old Collin Courtwright.

Courtwright would "make you smile when you were crying," the boy's father, Sam Starns, said Tuesday. "Me and him, we were best friends."

Starns said the shooting also left one of Courtwright's teenage friends dead. Another person was injured and in recovery at the hospital.

"He's got family and friends that love him," Starns said about his son. "I just don't believe it, until we're standing here talking, I don't believe it. It's like I'm sleeping."

Two Oakville High School seniors were charged in the case Tuesday afternoon.

Tyler Coleman and Zachary Hough are each charged with two counts each of second-degree murder and armed criminal action, and one count each of marijuana delivery. 

According to court documents, the shooting stemmed from a drug deal involving marijuana cartridges. 

As unanswered questions remain, Starns is now trying to figure out how to move forward without his son.

"It will get easier," Starns said with tears in his eyes. "But you will never forget that."

If you drove around the Black Forest Apartment Complex on Tuesday afternoon, there was no broken glass on the ground, bullet holes in buildings or any indication of what this same parking lot looked like just the day before. 

It was the parking lot outside of the apartments where Courtwright was pronounced dead on the scene. 

Describing the moment police told him his son was shot and killed there, "I almost fell to the ground," Starns said.

"I couldn't really walk. I couldn't breathe. My mouth got dry. It was something that a parent should never have to go through."

Both Coleman and Hough were being held on $500,000 bond.

"This kid evidently who shot (my son) didn't have no remorse on nobody's life," Starns said. 

A vigil and balloon release for the victims was held around 6 p.m. Tuesday in the parking lot where it all happened.

If you have any information about the Oakville shooting, you're asked to call the St. Louis County Police or Crime Stoppers at 866-371-TIPS.

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