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NEW ORLEANS (WVUE) - Loved ones gathered at Tuba Fats Square with drums, horns and chants to honor Sam Jackson. Family members and friends say he was gunned down in a Friday morning (May 5) shooting just a day before he was set to perform at Jazz Fest.

A crowd honored Jackson for being a co-founder of the Young Fellaz Brass Band, Mardi Gras Indian, and culture bearer for New Orleans.

Loved ones of musician Sam Jackson are at Tuba Fats Square mourning his death after he was shot and killed in a double shooting Friday morning.

Jackson is a co-founder of Young Fellaz Brass Band and was set to perform at Jazz Fest on Saturday. @FOX8NOLA pic.twitter.com/nnaCRwPg78

“It’s messed up all the way. It’s a deep hurt. He cut us deep with this one,” Jackson’s friend Reuben Evans said. “He was the best Wild Man I ever met. He made his own stepping stone.”

Family members say he was one of two men involved in a double shooting in the Marigny. NOPD says the shooting happened around 10 a.m. near the corner of St. Anthony and North Rampart streets. Police have not given an update on how the other man is doing after the shooting.

Friends say Jackson was killed a day before he was supposed to fill in for another musician for a set at Jazz Fest.

“He did a lot for the culture as far as paving his own way. He did good,” Evans said.

Many of Jackson’s brass band members were too emotional to speak on camera as they grieved for Jackson and the group’s other co-founder, Troy Jones, who was shot and killed just last month.

Loved ones say they will push the band to stay together and honor their leaders.

“It’s going to be hard to rebuild but it can be rebuilt. Wild Man forever,” Evans said.

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