NORTH CHARLESTON, South Carolina -- Thaddeus Johnson and Romaine Scott would have never gotten engaged if it wasn't for Walter Scott.
They hit it off as soon as Walter introduced them -- Thaddeus was one of his best friends from elementary school, and Romaine was his cousin -- and soon, the three were spending nearly every weekend together along with Walter's fiance, Charlotte. They'd play Walter's favorite game, dominoes, as well as backgammon and spades. They'd listen to music, drink beer and dance, sometimes until 4 or 5 a.m. Walter, Romaine told Mashable, didn't like leaving.
Neither of them can quite believe those weekends are gone.
Walter was shot and killed by a North Charleston Police Department officer on Saturday while he was running away from a police officer. His killing, which was caught on video, has sparked protests in North Charleston. Walter has joined a growing list of black men killed by white police officers in the United States. Many of those killings have ignited a continuous nationwide conversation about police treatment of minorities.
"What I’m going to remember about him is just seeing him having a good time," Thaddeus told Mashable. "I'm going to miss that immensely."
All four of them were competitive, though Walter seemed to get the most joy from making everything a game. He and Thaddeus even battled to see who could amass the biggest collection of albums, Thaddeus said. Walter loved everything from Marvin Gaye to house music.
Walter, 50, would pull out his score-keeping notebook every week before the dominoes matches began, checking to see who had won the most games the week before. If that person wasn't him, he'd say, "Alright, well let's see how it goes this weekend," as a sort of challenge.
Thaddeus talked a lot about Walter, but he only laughed when asked who was the better player. Then he paused before saying, "no comment."
If Walter wasn't playing dominoes or cards, he was often watching football. He also played pick-up games with Thaddeus, and he was a huge Dallas Cowboys fan -- even when his team could barely muster five wins in a season. Romaine, who makes jewelry, said she had been working on a Dallas Cowboys-colored bracelet for him when he was killed.
"He was a die-hard no matter how bad they lost," Romaine said.
She and Thaddeus modeled parts of their relationship after Walter and Charlotte, and Romaine said she was in awe of their love.
"The adoration he had for her was so immense it was crazy," Romaine said. "We would look at our relationship and say, 'we want our relationship to be tight-knit like that.'"
Now, Romaine said she and Thaddeus are struggling to cope.
Romaine broke down several times talking about her cousin's smile and how she'd talked to him just the day before he was killed.
Thaddeus talked about how Walter would often text him during the week, just a short text to say he wished it was a Friday or Saturday night and they were playing dominoes.
"I just want to picture that he'll be dancing right here with us," Romaine said. "I really believe that, too. I really believe that his spirit will be right here."