LANCASTER — "I cried so much yesterday. I don't think I could cry anymore," said Laquita Spence, the girlfriend of Lancaster shooting victim Jeremy McMillian.
Twenty-four hours after he was gunned down in front of her and their two small children, Spence said it's still tough to make sense of what happened Sunday evening in the parking lot of an apartment complex.
Spence remembered seeing alleged shooter David Brown, Jr. "He just held up the gun, and he had this terrifying look on his face," she recalled. "And as Jeremy threw his hands up like this, he [Brown] just started firing."
Three shots in an act of apparently random violence killed McMillian, who was driving Spence and their children to visit McMillian's sister.
"After he fired the first shot, I had my back turned," Spence said. "I finally got the door unlocked and I rolled out of the car."
The white Mitsubishi Galant sedan rolled to a stop at the curb. Their children — Jimerian, 3, and Quinton, almost two months — were spattered with McMillian's blood, Spence said, but unhurt.
Spence said she ran to an apartment and called 911 to report the shooting in progress.
Minutes later, Brown allegedly murdered Lancaster police Officer Craig Shaw as he responded to Spence's call for help.
Brown was cut down in a hail of bullets. His motive remains a mystery.
Spence said when she made the 911 call, dispatchers sent police to the River Bend apartments but she never saw an ambulance for McMillian. He was never checked on by paramedics, Spence said, until the Dallas County Medical Examiner removed his body from the driver's seat of his car — six hours later.
Investigators from Lancaster told News 8 that two ambulances were sent to the scene. One rushed Officer Shaw to the hospital, but it's unclear where the second ambulance responded.
The story is even more tragic as details about McMillian emerge.
"He worked two jobs to take care of us," Spence said. "He said, 'All I want you to do is take care of my kids.'"
McMillian, 23, was a full-time auto mechanic at Roadstar Car Care in Lancaster. Then, each weekend, he stocked shelves and ran the register at a Dollar General store behind his home.
He worked seven days a week to provide for his family.
"All he wanted to do is take care of his family," said Vincent Pride, the victim's father. "Now, he's gone. [And] on Father's Day. It's just senseless."
His children are too young to know what happened to their dad on Father's Day.
Despite working two jobs, McMillian, 23, never purchased life insurance. His young family set up an account at Chase bank for anyone wishing contribute to a fund for funeral expenses. Donations can be made at any branch in his name.
Email: jwhitely@wfaa.com
