Benjamin Harouni, a 2014 Rio Americano graduate, who was shot dead by a disgruntled patient at his father’s dental office in El Cajon, is remembered as an amazing student and sweet person by former teachers and others who knew him.

“Just a horrific, tragic senseless act of violence which has shattered in an instant, the lives of his family, not to mention his many friends, many of them from his years at Rio,” Sacramento Rabbi Reuven Taff said.

Taff was Harouni’s family Rabbi for many years, and watched him grow up since he was a young boy.

“And while his promising life ended too soon, I hope that you all will continue to go on living your lives, inspired by his example and his commitment to upholding the ideals and Jewish values which were so important to him,” Taff said. “His kindness, his love for family, his loyalty as a friend, his compassion, and his desire to make a real difference in this broken world of ours.”

“Every single person who knew Ben appreciated his compassion and humor,” Aaron Zorman, one of Harouni’s closest friends and a Rio grad himself, told the Mirada. “He was one of the best Rio produced, and only Rio could have made him the way he was.”

Harouni was an honors student in high school, participating in Civitas and three years of varsity tennis. He attended the University of Southern California for political and natural science and later University of the Pacific for his dental doctorate.

“We were all robbed of someone who only wanted to make the world a better place,” Zorman said. “Rio helped him achieve his dreams. His legacy of kindness and peace is up to us.”

Harouni’s teachers remember him as a standout student.

“He was a good guy, a really good kid,” Civitas program director Nina Seibel said. “Just funny, sweet, creative. He would always come back and visit after he graduated.”