A son’s heroism amid Wednesday night's mass shooting in Lewiston, Maine, has not been a comfort, says his father, Leroy Walker.
Leroy Walker is the father of Joseph Walker, who was a manager at Schemengees Bar and Grille in Lewiston, Maine. The bar was the second location targeted by a gunman who began his mass shooting rampage on the evening of Oct. 25 at Sparetime Recreation. The family establishment and bowling alley is located 12 minutes away from Schemengees by car.
As of Wednesday afternoon, 18 fatalities have been reported, with another 13 injured. A manhunt is currently underway for the shooter.
Speaking to “NBC Nightly News’” Lester Holt, Leroy Walker recalled learning that his son Joseph died in the mass shooting, and what the state police told his daughter-in-law.
Leroy Walker referred to his son as Joe and Joey.
“Joey Walker was shot to death at Schemengee’s — shot to death,” Leroy Walker said. “Then he went into telling her that he died as a hero because he picked up a butcher knife from somewhere — he has all that stuff near the bar anyways. And he tried to go at the gunman to stop him from shooting anybody else. The gunman shot him twice through the stomach.”
“Does that change your pain at all?” Holt prompted in the interview. “Knowing that?
“Oh,” Walker replied, his voice becoming audibly shaken. “It made it worse. Yeah, it made it worse.”
Leroy Walker, a city council member in Auburn, Maine, told MSNBC’s Ana Cabrera that it took nearly 14 hours to be updated about his son.
“None of us slept. We were up all night,” he said of the wait. “We didn’t know where to go, who to run to. They didn’t notify any of us.”
Leroy Walker told Cabrera that he first learned something had happened to Joseph from his youngest son, who called him on the phone.
“I almost fell to my knees,” Leroy Walker tearfully said. “I said, ‘Don’t tell me that.’”
The father says this his family is now “suffering and dying in a nightmare we don’t understand.”
“Joe was a great, great son, a loving husband. He had two grandchildren and a stepson... thousands of people loved him,” Leroy Walker said to Cabrera of his son. “What are we gonna do tomorrow, the next day? How are we gonna handle this?”
Lester Holt’s interview with Leroy Walker aired on October 26 on “NBC Nightly News With Lester Holt” at 6:30 p.m. EST.
