"The family is destroyed," body shop owner says after deadly workplace shooting in Houston
HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- It's been several days since shots rang out at Bemer Plus auto shop in southwest Houston, but the pain is still fresh.
Police say former employee Daniel Farraretto walked in, shot and killed two people, then turned the gun on himself.
Today, the shop owner spoke with Eyewitness News and said that this horrific incident is a big blow to a tight-knit family.
The victims, Kendric Wade and Mary McGehee, were described as the most "go-to" of them all.
Even though the shop is open for business and as back to normal as possible, no one can forget the terror from the shooting.
"It was a normal, routine day up until the point that it happened, but no reason to suspect anything," Frederick Stewart said.
Stewart says he is shaken to his core. He's run Bemer Plus for 32 years, and of those, Wade was there for 24 of them. Office manager Mary McGehee was there for five.
The bond they shared and the memories they created are what makes their deaths so hard.
"The family is destroyed," Stewart said. "Emotionally."
RELATED: Former co-worker kills 2 at auto body shop before killing self
Police say Ferraretto shot Wade and then McGehee, before killing himself.
The gunman did contract mechanic work for the business, but hadn't worked there in at least a year.
Stewart said he was started to unravel and looked physically sick.
"He quit. He stopped working on cars. He really wasn't doing a lot. I just watched his life dwindling down. He lost his apartment. He was sleeping in his car," Stewart said.
Ferraretto's daughter said she spoke with her father the day before the shooting, and told Eyewitness News it "breaks her heart to know she can never talk to her dad again."
Wade was a well-liked man from Cleveland, Mississippi, who recently married the love of his life from Jamaica.
McGehee was a mother and wife who loved animals and would do anything to help them.
Stewart plans to keep those memories at the forefront and help their families any way he can.
Still, there's questions he has about Ferraretto that may never get answered.
"I really wonder what was going through his mind," Stewart said.
Family remembers mechanic slain in workplace shooting
