Family of Gainesville murder victim pleads for answers
GAINESVILLE, Ga. - As police work to identify a person of interest in the shooting death of a man in Gainesville last week, the victim's family hopes for answers.
"He was a good man," said Jonie Mechelle Gayton, Dennis Gayton's wife. "He did anything for anybody."
Gayton said her husband was in Gainesville to take their children on a fishing and camping trip for spring break. Tyler Gayton, 15, was in the truck with his dad headed to the grocery store Tuesday night when they saw two men walking along the roadway.
"They waved us down. I guess my daddy thought they needed a ride or something, so he pulled over. They came up to the truck, asked my daddy for his money and pulled out a gun and put it in his face," Tyler recalled.
According to Gayton, his father tried to knock the gun away and that is when the man pulled the trigger. To make matters worse, Mechelle Gayton was on the phone with her son just before the gun went off.
"It's horrible. I hear it over and over in my head again," said Gayton. "It's just the same scream over--it's hard to sleep, just knowing that's the last time you're ever going to hear your husband."
Gainesville police released a sketch of a person of interest in the case and investigators ask anyone with information to call them.
Dennis Gayton did not have life insurance and there is a GoFundMe page set up to raise money for his funeral expenses.