HOUSTON – The family of as man shot and killed while working at the Houston Farmers Market is opening up about the loss of their loved one.
Damon Price, 36, was shot after confronting two teens who were allegedly trying to steal a golf cart from the Houston Heights business early Thursday morning.
According to the Houston Police Department, a fight ensued after Price confronted them. That’s when a 14-year-old pulled out a gun and shot Price, killing him.
On Saturday, just two days after he was killed, Price’s fiancé is opening up only to KPRC 2′s Gage Goulding.
“To know Damon is to love Damon, and he was truly loved,” Ashley Thomas said. “A great father, a great friend, provider, everything. He was everything to me.”
Price, at just 36 years old, was murdered while working the early morning shift as a gatekeeper at the Houston Farmers Market.
He leaves behind his fiance and the six kids they share between them.
Ashley Thomas: “I’m gonna say my kids because he love my kids like they were his own. And that was my babies, too. I know they hurt.”
Gage Goulding: “They have to grow up without a father now, your kids. That was a father figure for them to grow up without that.”
Ashley Thomas: “For four years. They [were] so used to him coming in the door. And now to see that he can’t come in and not to hear him say. His words ‘Off your ass, on your feet’ is, this is crazy, to not hear those words.”
Gage Goulding: “What are you going to miss most about Damon?”
Ashley Thomas: “The way he loved me and he loved on me.”
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She didn’t realize something happened until she called down to the Houston Farmers Market on Thursday morning. She sensed that something was wrong when she woke up.
“We have a routine, she said. “And the routine was if I don’t text him before he text me, we better text each other and I did not get it text, a ‘Good morning, baby.’”
When she reached the security guard at the Houston Farmers Market, she learned the love of her life was gone.
“That’s when she told me to sit down. And I’m like, ‘Why, I gotta sit down?’ And she tells me. I still feel like I’m in a dream and I pinch me. But it’s my reality. Yeah, he’s not here.”
Damon was shot and killed by a 14-year-old who was trying to steal a golf cart. When he confronted them, a fight started and one of the teens pulled out a gun, shooting and killing Damon.
Gage Goulding: “These are teenagers that did this and took this man not only out of your life, but out of your children’s life, out of his children’s life.”
Ashley Thomas: “I can’t—I can’t even process it. What are y’all doing? I can’t even be angry because these are children. I don’t know how to be angry at kids when I have kids myself.”
Gage Goulding: “Do you think that there’s a violence problem here in Houston?”
Ashley Thomas: “Of course, and it needs to come to an end.”
Damon’s family is planning on a balloon release to celebrate his life next week.
The teen who police believe killed Damon is in jail.