A male City College student died Wednesday night in his Beach City apartment.

William “Will” Smit Jr., 19, a first year student from St. Louis, Missouri, was found unconscious by his roommates at 7:30 p.m., said Kelly Hoover, Public Information Officer for the Santa Barbara Police Department. The cause of death is still unknown.

Emergency responders attempted to revive him but they were unsuccessful and pronounced him dead at the scene.

“It broke my heart,” said Kiara Wagner, a close neighbor. “I had Film Studies with him last semester.”

Neighbors and friends remember him as a happy and hopeful person.

“We were good friends with him,” said Kallie Caramanoff, a close friend of Smit. “A couple of weeks ago we went to Isla Vista and we talked about how great this year was gonna be.”

Smit’s neighbor Samara Elaine said she thought of a creative way to honor his memory.

“We got stickers of his face to stick places,” she said. “He would love that.”

“I’ve been to their house so many times,” said Miranda Cyr, another neighbor. “The fact that this happened to him blows my mind. He was a very smart and generous kid. He was very intelligent. I sometimes saw him doing his homework above the pool.

“He was never sad or depressed. He was always so nice to everyone. It was completely unexpected. Everyone was shook.”

He is remembered through family, friends, and his fellow Beach City residents.