http://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/article/Long-time-mechanic-who-loved-his-job-among-three-12464086.php
Long-time mechanic who loved his job among 3 dead in auto shop shooting
Updated 8:31 pm, Saturday, December 30, 2017
Kendric Wade was one of three killed in a Friday shooting.
Kendric Wade was one of three killed in a Friday shooting.
Houston police are on the hunt for two men who broke into a southwest Houston Shell station early Wednesday. (Metro Video)
Houston police are on the hunt for two men who broke into a southwest Houston Shell station early Wednesday. (Metro Video)
Houston police are on the hunt for two men who broke into a southwest Houston Shell station early Wednesday. (Metro Video)
Houston police are on the hunt for two men who broke into a southwest Houston Shell station early Wednesday. (Metro Video)
Houston police are on the hunt for two men who broke into a southwest Houston Shell station early Wednesday. (Metro Video)
Houston police are on the hunt for two men who broke into a southwest Houston Shell station early Wednesday. (Metro Video)
Houston police are on the hunt for two men who broke into a southwest Houston Shell station early Wednesday. (Metro Video)
Houston police are on the hunt for two men who broke into a southwest Houston Shell station early Wednesday. (Metro Video)
Houston police are on the hunt for two men who broke into a southwest Houston Shell station early Wednesday. (Metro Video)
Houston police are on the hunt for two men who broke into a southwest Houston Shell station early Wednesday. (Metro Video)
He tinkered with cars and told jokes. He'd found a wife to settle down with and a job he loved.
But on Friday, a disgruntled former employee burst in the mechanic shop on South Post Oak and gunned down Kendric Wade and one of his co-workers before going after the business owner and ultimately turning the weapon on himself.
A day later, authorities haven't released the names of the shooter or the second victim, but Wade's friends and family have begun pouring out their grief for the lifelong fix-it man from Mississippi.
"He never had a bad word with anyone," said brother-in-law Martin Cameron who grew up a block from the mechanic.
Around 4:00pm an Ex-Employee of Bemer Plus, went to the Auto Repair business with a gun and went inside and opened fire, shooting two employees, who died there inside the shop. The suspect then went outside and shot himself. He died as well.
Media: Metro VideoGunfire broke out just before 4 p.m. at the Bemer Plus near West Orem. The shooter - who Wade's family identified as an acquaintance - showed up during business hours, while there were multiple employees and customers inside the shop, according to police.
He may have been targeting the owner who dove out the window, according to Cameron. But ultimately it was Wade, who'd worked there roughly two decades, and a secretary who caught the brunt of the gunman's wrath.
"Early indicator this is senseless workplace violence," Police Chief Art Acevedo tweeted afterward.
The 45-year-old mechanic learned to fix cars as a teen in Cleveland, Mississippi. One friend described him as the "neighborhood car repairman" for the town of 12,000.
After attending community college, he moved to Houston and started working at Bemer.
"He loved it there," Cameron said. "Every time he would come home and visit, I'd ask and he'd say, 'Man, I'm not going anywhere.'"
Cameron described him as a "joyful person" who was well-known because of his willingness to pitch in as a handyman.
A few years ago, he met the love of his life while on vacation in Jamaica.
"It was love at first sight," Cameron said. The two kept up their relationship through phone calls and visits, finally tying the knot two years ago, on Dec. 27, 2015.
His wife was headed back to Houston to celebrate New Year's Eve.
"Can't believe you're really gone," one friend wrote on Facebook as word of the killing spread. "You didn't deserve to die that way."
Bemer launched a GoFundMe page, as did one of Wade's cousins.
"What a sad way for a good person to die," the page notes.
