Linden store owner, manager fondly remember employee fatally shot in tragic parking lot accident
LINDEN, Texas (KLTV) - Friends and co-workers are paying their respects to an East Texas man killed last week in a freak accident.
It was this past Friday in Linden that police were called to the scene of an accidental shooting that was almost impossible to believe.
“By the time I got there, Larry was laying on the parking lot. I believe at that time he was holding on to what little life he had left,” said Crump Food Center manager Greg Herron.
Store employee, 39 year old Larry Lawrence of Queen City, who was also autistic, was working Friday at the Crump Food Center.
Lawrence had come out to load groceries in the back seat of a customers vehicle. There was a dog in the back seat and Lawrence began to pet the dog. What he didn’t know is that there was also a rifle in the back seat.
According to police and witnesses, the dog stepped on a .22 rifle in the back seat of the vehicle, causing it to discharge and strike Lawrence in the chest. He was pronounced dead at the helipad site as they prepared to life-flight him.
“It’s a devastating loss for his family, and his work family. We valued him; he was part of our family,” says store owner Chris Spencer.
He’s remembered as a model employee, and gentle soul.
“Larry Lawrence would be in our parking lot one hour before he had to come to work. Smile on his face every day. Same Larry, every day,” Herron says.
“Larry was patient. Larry was kind, he was wonderful to our customers,” says Spencer.
The community has responded with an outpouring of sympathy and help for the family.
“They have stepped up in a profound way. Some publicly, some anonymously,” Chris says.
“$20. $60, $100 ... this is for Larry, this is for his family,” says Herron.
Larry Lawrence was laid to rest Thursday.
Linden police say the case is still being investigated, and upon closing the case, they will present it to the district attorneys office.
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