Garnell Whitfield Jr., former Buffalo Fire Commissioner and son of shot victim Ruth Whitfieldsaid Monday that their father, Garnell Whitfield Sr., is not yet aware that his wife has passed away.
Whitfield Jr., speaking with family members at a news conference with their attorney on Monday, said that his father has lived in a nursing home for the past eight years and that the mother is 86 His age, Ruth, visited him every time. single day. They have been married for 68 years.
“My mom woke up that morning and she… went to the nursing home to care for the love of her life, my dad. Sixty-eight years, they were married. He’s been in that nursing home for the past eight years. And every day, she goes there to care for him, to make sure he has a quality life, to do things that no one else can do for him,” said Whitfield Jr. speak. “She left there, to pick up groceries on her way home, and she got into this nasty, nasty thing… she didn’t deserve it. She doesn’t deserve this. No one deserves that.”
Whitfield Jr said he and family members were struggling to find a way to tell their father that their mother had died at the hands of a white supremacist.
“He does not know. What do we tell him? How do we tell him the love of his life, his primary caregiver who has kept him alive for the past eight years, how do we tell him she gone? Not only is she gone, but at the hands of a white supremacist, a terrorist, a villain, who is allowed to live among us? ” Whitfield Jr. said.
Whitfield Jr also expressed his anger at the situation, calling out elected officials for their lack of protection.
“We don’t apologize for our suffering and pain – you can see that. We will not apologize for that. But we don’t just hurt. We are angry, we are going crazy. This should not happen. We try our best to be good citizens, to be good people. We believe in God. We trust him. We treat everyone with courtesy. And love our enemies,” he said.
“And you expect us to keep doing this over and over and over again… forgive and forget, while those we vote for and trust in offices around this country do their best. for not defending us, not treating us as equals, not loving us Back. What do we do with all this anger, with all this pain?” Whitfield Jr. ask.
Family lawyer Ben Crump said Whitfield is a mother of four children, a grandmother and a great-grandmother. Her two daughters, as well as a granddaughter, also spoke Monday of their love for their deceased loved one. Raymond Whitfield, a young son of Ruth and Garnell Sr., echoed his brother’s sentiments and said they are proud of their legacy, despite experiencing unequal treatment.
“How dare you not consider us Americans? We stand here on the blood, sweat and tears of our ancestors, and you [Ruth] taught us to be proud of that fact, okay? Apparently she’s an African-American princess,” Raymond Whitfield said, calling his family “broken-hearted”.
Whitfield Jr went on to say that it was a difficult decision for him and the family to speak publicly about their loss, saying they were often a separate family. However, they decided to speak out to honor their mother and hope to contribute to positive change.
“What I miss most about my mother, what I love most about her is how she loved us, how unconditionally she loved our family. How she sacrificed everything for us, how she gave herself when she had nothing left to give, she willingly did it for us. And let her be taken from us and taken from this world, by someone [is] It’s just hate for no reason… we’re having a hard time dealing with it right now,” said Whitfield Jr. speak.
“This is not just some story to fuel the news cycle, this is our mom. This is our life. We need help. We’re asking you to help us… this can’t keep happening,” he continued.
CNN’s Tanika Gray contributed reporting to this post.
