HALL COUNTY, Ga. — An 81-year-old innocent bystander died after a shooting in a Walmart parking lot in Gainesville.
Police identified the victim as 81-year-old James McDaniel. Channel 2’s Tyisha Fernandes spoke with McDaniel’s wife, who is leaning on the rest of their family to comfort her right now.
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“He’s retired from the post office. He worked there 23 years,” Gloria McDaniel said.
Gloria and James McDaniel were married for decades. She told Channel 2 Action News all about their life together.
“He went into the Navy right after he turned 18,” she said. “When he got out of the Navy, he turned around and went right into the Navy reserves.”
The couple married young. They had four children, got divorced and then married again.
Their love story ended tragically on Wednesday night when James McDaniel went to the Walmart on Shallowford Road.
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Police said someone fired shots in the parking lot and a stray bullet hit and killed McDaniel, an innocent bystander. An officer delivered the news to his wife.
“He came in and said, ‘I just need to tell you that your husband had an accident’ And I said ‘Is he OK?’ And he said no,” Gloria McDaniel said.
The officer told her that her husband was alive but in critical condition. He died on the way to the hospital.
The McDaniel family is comforting Gloria at such a difficult time.
“He was a very happy person. And he wanted to be with his family.”
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