College security guard, wife killed

Family and friends gathered in the Paine College chapel Thursday to memorize three people in their society who have lost their lives this year.

Dr. Jeffery Thomas, a 49-year-old lecturer and church pastor, died two weeks ago of a heart assault.

Sol Walker, a board associate and prominent shape in the African-American society, died Saturday.

Lee Wilson, a security officer for the college, was the victim of a familial shooting last weekend.

"I know we're goanna make it," said Wilson's mother, Ernestine. "It's goanna take time, but all we can do is pray and keep praying."

Last Sunday she was in church playing the piano when she establish out her son had been shot.

"They came and told me to come to the back and that's when they told me my son had been shot and my daughter-in-law, I just went berserk," she recalled.

Wilson, a Paine College safety officer, and his wife, Brandi Paulk-Wilson, were killed Saturday night by her sister's ex-husband during a familial circumstances at their home.

"We just praying and holding onto God's hand to bring us during this," said his aunt, Barbara West. "It has not been simple."

The Wilsons' 8-month-old daughter, Tummesia, was residence at the time with her 12-year-old cousin.

"His little nephew took the baby and hid in the closet with the little baby," said Wilson's mother.

"This was the love of his life, his baby," West said.

Now his family and his daughter pay attention as his fellow officers memorize him.

"Lee gave a lot to us, and he gave a lot to Paine College, and for that, I am eternally indebted and grateful," said Deputy Chief Charles Prescott.

Wilson had been working at Paine for five years.

"He started working as a safety guard with his father years ago, so that's his infatuation," West said.

"In our line of work we're used to seeing this kind of stuff day in and day out," Prescott said. "You get kind of used to it, but what you don't get used to be seeing good people leave and that's the kind of person Lee was."

The man who shot them shot and killed himself that same night.

The other victim, April Paulk, Wilson's sister-in-law, has since been free from the hospital.

The funerals for Wilson and his wife will be this weekend. They were hoping to have them collectively, but unluckily, funding is limited.