A close friend of one of the three armoured car guards shot and killed last week in Edmonton is remembering Eddie Rejano, whose funeral is Friday, as a family man who also brought levity to their workplace.

Jacob Smith worked part-time for two years with Rejano at the Wild West Shooting Centre at the West Edmonton Mall.

"Ever since I started working with Eddie…whenever I pulled into to work and saw his vehicle there, I smiled because I knew we would have a good time," Smith told CBC News.

Staff members at the shooting centre have set up a fund for Rejano's family that has gathered over $5,000.

Smith described Rejano, a 39-year-old father of two, as a proud family man.

"His boys were the cutest things, and his wife was very nice," Smith said. "He was a devoted family man and whenever he talked about them he had the biggest smile on his face."

Rejano, Michelle Shegelski, 26, and Brian Ilesic, 35, died in the early hours of June 15.

"It will be nice to celebrate Eddie's life with people that knew him very well," Smith said of Rejano's funeral, which took place Friday afternoon.

Ilesic's funeral will be held Saturday, while Shegelski's is set for Tuesday.

Matthew Schuman, the lone survivor of the shooting, is in hospital with critical head injuries.

The victims and the accused were all working as armoured car guards for G4S at the time of the shooting. They were putting cash into a bank machine when the attack took place shortly after midnight Friday.

Travis Baumgartner, the co-worker and accused killer of the three guards, made his first court appearance Thursday in Edmonton.

He faces three charges of first-degree murder, one charge of attempted murder and four counts of robbery with a firearm in relation to the deadly shooting at the University of Alberta in Edmonton.

Baumgartner was arrested on Saturday while attempting to cross into the United States near Abbotsford, B.C. Police say he was carrying around $330,000 in cash.

Baumgartner's court appearance on Thursday was brief and he was quickly ordered to reappear on July 5. He has not entered a plea.