Nearly 500 residents, coworkers and friends of Blake Mohs, the Pleasanton Home Depot employee who was shot and killed while trying to stop an attempted theft, have been showing support for his family through a GoFundMe page.

The account, which was created by Mohs' aunt Stacy Trujillo, has raised about $35,000 since Trujillo first launched it on Friday. The original target goal was set at $20,000.

"This fund is being started for my wonderful nephew Blake. Blake lost his life due to senseless gun violence trying to do the right thing and protecting others," Trujillo wrote on the page. "Blake lived a wonderful 26 years doing what he loved most, which included spending time with his family, volunteering as a camp counselor and Scout leader, church youth leader, a cadet with the Newark Police Department and earning the honor of Eagle Scout."

"Blake touched so many people's lives in his time here and was so very loved and will be forever remembered and missed," Trujillo added.

The money, which is going straight to Mohs' mom, will help pay for memorial services as well as his mom's goal of preventing anything like what happened to her son from happening to anyone else.

"Blake's mom hopes to provide protective life-saving vests to others in similar positions to save lives," Trujillo wrote on the GoFundMe page.

Mohs, 26, was a Tri-Valley native and recognizable Home Depot loss prevention employee at the Johnson Drive store who was shot on April 18 while trying to stop a shoplifter. Police say he intervened when 32-year-old Oakland resident Benicia Knapps took a large yellow Dewalt box and attempted to leave through a rear door without paying, according to court documents.

According to a probable cause declaration written by Pleasanton Police Department Officer Mark Sheldon, video surveillance footage from the store shows a Black woman -- later identified by police as Knapps -- in a black facemask and white tracksuit entering the Home Depot before the struggle ensued.

Police allege that after Knapps shot Mohs, she ran to a getaway car that was being driven by David Guillory, 31, and the two fled the scene along with Knapps' 21-month-old daughter in the vehicle. The two adults were arrested after a police chase into Oakland.

Knapps later admitted to police holding the gun but said it fired accidentally, according to court documents.

According to a six-count criminal complaint issued the Alameda County District Attorney's Office on April 20, Knapps is facing felony counts of first-degree murder for Mohs' death, possession of a firearm by a felon and child abuse.

Guillory is being charged with four felonies: child abuse, accessory after the fact (knowledge of crime) to robbery, evading police with willful disregard for safety and evading police while driving against traffic.

According to the court documents, both arrestees had criminal records including a 2014 conviction for grand theft in San Joaquin County for Knapps, and for Guillory, first-degree burglary in 2013 in Santa Clara County and unlawful sexual intercourse in Solano County in 2015.

Both defendants are currently being held in Santa Rita Jail -- Knapps is being held without bail while Guillory's bail was set at $325,000, according to the Alameda County Sheriff's Office inmate locator. Both are set to have an entry-of-plea hearing this Friday.