CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Walk into Shay Brown's homeroom, go to the second table on the right and you'll find his seat -- a chair the 12-year-old will never fill again.

Sugar Creek Charter School is now mourning the seventh grader. He died from a gunshot wound Saturday at a home in west Charlotte. Police are releasing very few details, except to say that the boy did not shoot himself.

Celeste Sundo taught Brown for years.

"Always had smile, a mischievous smile, on his face. He's a good kid," she said.

Brown and his twin brother have attended Sugar Creek since kindergarten, the same year the school opened. Sundo has known the family ever since.

"(Shay) was always a helper. First one in the classroom. Always wanted to cheer the other kids up -- a cheerleader for everybody, " she said.

A poster filled with loving messages now hangs in his school's hallway.

School psychologist Bruce Major has been with the family every night since the tragedy. He says extra counselors have been brought in to help grieving middle-school students.

"They understand the whole concept of death and the permanence of death. Mainly what we're dealing with in this situation is the whole friendship aspect of it," he said.

It’s a friendship that will be missed by many.

"By not just his family, but the family here at Sugar Creek, the kids, the faculty, everyone here. It's just a terrible tragedy and a tough loss," Sundo said.

RELATED STORY: Few Details Being Revealed In West Charlotte Shooting Death Of 12-Year-Old