Angela Weiss/Getty Images Speculation about the motive of Christina Grimmie's killer has been mounting, with many wondering, did she have a stalker?
If she did, this would be news to one of her friends, Ashly Nicole.
"Christina never talked about security concerns at all," she told E! News exclusively. "There didn't seem to be any warning signs at all."
The 22-year-old singer, a former finalist on The Voice and a popular YouTube star, had finished performing onstage in Orlando, Florida Friday as an opener for pop rock band Before I Exit and was signing autographs when a man police identified as a 27-year-old Florida resident walked up and shot her dead. Her brother Marcus Grimmie, 23, tackled him and the shooter then shot and killed himself, police said.
They also said that while there was private security at the venue who are meant to search people's belongings, there were no armed law enforcement officers or metal detectors. Police added that while they were not aware of the suspect having any history of stalking Christina, they believe he arrived at the venue specifically to commit the crime and had made travel arrangements via public transportation to return to where he came from.
Christina's death, which was ruled a homicide, remains under investigation.
Christina was known for her warm relationship with her fans and would give them shout-outs in her YouTube videos.
"She would call them her 'frands,' friends and fans combined," Nicole told E! News. "And all her fans kind of knew each other. Christina would regularly engage with her fans. She was so generous."
"I have literally seen her cry because she is so happy about the kindness and love she would get from her 'frands' on a daily basis," she added.
Nicole was one of Christina's "frands." She told E! News the two developed a friendship online and via texts and Skype five years ago before meeting in person earlier this year.
Nicole said Christina's mother would sometimes say hi to her or blow her kisses during the girls' Skype sessions.
"Christina definitely got her kind and giving nature from her mom," she said.
She also talked to E! News about Christina's relationship with her brother.
"Marcus and Christina were as close as can be," Nicole said. "He was the perfect brother to her and he became almost like a big brother to me too. They were only a year apart and he would always talk about how he would do anything for her. She was his world. He cared about her so much."
Nicole said she recently moved to Los Angeles, where Christina lived.
"We were always very close from afar," Nicole told E! News. "But then when I moved here our friendship just continued, she became like a sister to me."
"She would always be checking up on me and giving me advice and she was just wonderful to be around," she said. "She was goofy, always making silly faces and trying to make you laugh. She was just happy and made everyone around her happy too. Of course, she would have her serious moments at times, like all of us do, times when she would emotionally pick you up and motivate you and tell you to snap out of whatever you were going through."
Nicole called Christina "so supportive and kind."
"If I ever needed anything, she would literally drop everything she was doing and come and pick me up in her car and take me around," she said. "And she would sing everywhere she would go. She had the most beautiful voice."
Nicole said Christina had planned to return to Los Angeles over the weekend and start working on new music.
"I know she was hoping to one day headline her own tour," she added. "I am a photographer so we would talk about how we would go on the road together one day. We were so excited about it."
Nicole said she last saw Christina two weeks ago
"The last thing she said to my face was that she loved me," she said.
Nicole told E! News the two spoke for the last time a day before Christina was killed.
"I wanted some advice on something," she said. "But of course I had no idea it was going to be the last time I would speak to her. I wish I had known so I could have told her how much she meant to me."