Teacher ‘gave everyone a special piece of him.’ A killer took the rest.

The skies opened up Tuesday night, unleashing heavy rains threatening a candlelight vigil for a community giant.

But Kofi Owens wouldn’t allow it.

“We feel his presence here tonight,” said East Orange Mayor Ted Green.

Everyone did. His family. His friends. His students and colleagues. Hundreds crowded on to the grounds of East Orange STEM Academy, a magnet high school where Owens was a treasure, a mentor, and a technology teacher who gave his all.

His stature in life Tuesday night overshadowed his death. Last week, Owens, 45, of Newark, was shot and killed around 1 a.m. Friday while sitting inside his parked car on South 16th Street in East Orange. His 25-year-old son was in the car and was injured in the shooting, too, his family said. Another young man was in the back seat when someone fired into the vehicle. The three were listening to a song that Owens and the young man had recorded, according to family members.

No one has been arrested, but the Essex County Sheriff’s Department’s Crime Stoppers program is offering up to $10,000 for information leading to an arrest.

The downpour Tuesday didn’t deter anyone from coming to celebrate Owens’ life. When the evening clouds cleared, his heavenly journey was complete, a reward for the talents and gifts he shared with young people who believed nothing was impossible because of him.

“You don’t know the impact he had on our lives,” said Anisaa Jean-Pierre, a 16-year-old sophomore.

She wasn’t just talking to the crowd. She was looking at Owens’ mother, Gloria, who was steps away standing with her son, Kwame, and his daughter.

“He always treated us like kings and queens,” Jean-Pierre said.

That’s how he would greet them in class, in the hallway, at the beginning of a school year. He believed it, and they did, too.

“He did right by us,” Jean-Pierre said. “There is always going to be a part of us that he left.”

Gloria Owens smiled as the young lady spoke. Her son’s impact was evident. You could hear and feel it resonate from current and former students before and after the vigil, too.

“He never let you look down on yourself,” said Alyssa Dumas, 14, a freshman.

“You could go to him with anything,” said Kimberly Green, a Rutgers University-Newark student he taught in the sixth grade. “He was that one person you could go to and he won’t judge you.”

The testimonies make Owens’ mother proud, a thought she shared at the vigil and hours before in her living room. She was at peace, knowing her son had done all he could during his time here.

“Kofi came out the gate sharing his gifts and talents,” she said. “I told him one time, when I grow up I want to be just like you.”

Even as a teenager, she said he was creative, always tinkering. She remembered a talent show in which he used her hair weave to make dread locks that he wore under her floppy hat to imitate the reggae group, Ziggy Marley and the Melody Makers.

His greatest gift, however, was connecting with young people and talking to them on their level.

He may have picked it up from his aunt, the late Barbara Owens Hayward, a teacher in Elizabeth whom Owens looked up to. He saw how she mentored her students, the compassion she had for the homeless when he traveled with her to shelters, or when she produced Christian plays in which performed.

A graduate of Bloomfield College, Owens’ sojourn with young people started 10 years ago, when he was hired by the East Orange School District. In that time, the impact he’s had can’t be measured.

“He had a gift of being able to give everyone a special piece of him that was different than that which he shared with anyone else,” said Charity Bracey, a teacher.

He loved all of the students, not just the ones who were articulate and received good grades, but the students who made wrong decisions, stood in the corner or got in trouble and needed guidance. Every Thursday, Superintendent Kevin West said Owens was part of a mentoring program with 82 boys at the school. He was consistent, reliable and always there, giving of himself.

He did it through poetry, video projects and producing socially-conscious hip-hop music. Owens was once with a group called the Conglomerate, but more recently with KGB – Know Good Broductions.

Kojo Aidoo, a hip-hop artist known as “Drift,” said Owens had a knack for getting young people to appreciate old-school rap artists, whose lyrics were meaningful and carried a message.

“He was able to impress that on the kids and they received it,” Aidoo said.

A married father of two children — a 16-year-old daughter and a 25-year-old son — Owens was down to earth and made time for everybody, the mourners said. Whenever a new Batman movie debuted, he would take his brother, Kwame, to see his favorite superhero.

“My brother was Bruce Wayne at work, but when he’s off and we’re together, we were Batman and Robin and I don’t mind being Robin,” Kwame Owens said.

As much as the vigil was about honoring a man who poured his soul into the neighborhood, city leaders called on residents to take up Owens’ legacy and get involved in the lives of young people.

“Who among us will rise,” asked Fifth Ward Councilman Mustafa Brent. “Who among us will stand to carry the torch?”

The people did.

They held lighted candles high in the air.

Owens’ wife, Sharonda, was emotional seeing how the community came to support her family.

“It warms my heart to know that you guys knew him the way I knew him,” she said through tears. “This is so overwhelming to see many people cared for him the way I cared for him and how I loved him.”

Barry Carter may be reached at bcarter@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @BarryCarterSL. Find NJ.com on Facebook.