Family of murdered Lyft driver honors him through scholarship fund

URBANA, Ill. (WAND) - The family of a student who was shot and killed while driving for Lyft is building a scholarship fund in his memory.

On Jan. 12, 2022, Kristian Philpotts was the victim of a robbery, according to police, before he was shot. He was found by authorities on South Vine Street near Burkwood Court in Urbana.

Philpotts' Jeep had crashed about four blocks north of where he was discovered, authorities said. They learned the suspects were in the Jeep when the shooting happened.

Three teens were later arrested, include two 16-year-old suspects and one 17-year-old suspect.

Philpotts' mother, Marla Rice, said her son was well on his way to becoming a veterinarian at the time of his death and was working through school to get into veterinary school. He had completed a bachelor's degree in pre-veterinary medicine in 2016 from Illinois State University before earning a master's in the same subject in 2019 from Eastern Illinois University. He was on the way to medical school in the fall with less than two years needed to meet his goal.

Rice said the plan is to create a named endowment to help another student attend veterinary school. The minimum needed to achieve this is $25,000, and over $13,000 had been raised on GoFundMe as of May 3, 2022. An anonymous donor gave over $10,000 of the amount donated to that point.

"An endowment is a permanent scholarship that would produce new scholarships annually for the student, and it will never go away or run out of funds," Rice said. "We want to create a scholarship in KP's name to help someone else get into veterinary school. KP was the most profoundly generous person, and I know he’d be happy to see that we helped someone else live out his dream."

To donate, click here.