FLINT, MI – A mother is burying her son, a cousin burying another family member just a month after losing his brother, and the family is no closer to answers after a police standoff ended with gunfire and a third family member dead.
Jonathon Gaylor moved to Atlanta, Georgia last November, but much of his family still lives in the Flint area.
On Wednesday, July 9, he said he felt like he was watching an episode of a crime drama on TV as he watched his cousin Daron Raymond Gaylor, Jr., 22, in a standoff with Flint police. Jonathon watched the standoff unfold through TV, social media and news websites.
Daron was wanted in connection with the shooting that left Jonathon's brother 28-year-old Ali McZick dead, and his cousin 19-year-old Tyrell Gaylor critically injured on June 2.
Flint police were looking for Daron for questioning following the July 5, shooting in the 300 block of East Witherbee Street that left Tyrell dead and his 8-year-old brother critically injured.
Jonathon said his brother had only lived in Flint a few weeks before the fatal shooting at Welch Boulevard and Martin Luther King Avenue. He said McZick moved to the area to get a fresh start and he didn't believe his younger brother had been in the area long enough to make any enemies.
"He wanted to get out of Detroit." Jonathon said. "He wanted to rebuild his life and start over again, so he hadn't even been in Flint two or three weeks before he was murdered and the situation didn't even have nothing to do with him. He was an innocent bystander in the whole situation."
The shooting deaths of McZick and Tyrell have caused a lot of confusion and pain within the family, Jonathon said it's emotionally draining.
"I'm three different emotions." Jonathon said. "I'm happy, I'm sad, and I'm mad all at the same time. I'm happy that he was caught. I was happy when the standoff started, I'm like 'ok they're gonna get him, he's caught.' Then I was mad when I found out that either they killed him or he killed himself in the attic. I was mad at that because we'll never have answers, we'll never know if he truly did it, we'll never know if he didn't do it. These are answers that the family as a whole is looking for. No one will ever truly know why. And then I'm sad because it's family. No matter how you look at it, it's family."
Tyrell's mother, Delores Gaylor said the whole situation is sad.
While she has lost one son, she has another in the hospital with buckshot in his abdomen and arm. She said right now her 8-year-old son is able to get up and walk around, but it is unclear if he will be able to use one of his hands as the fragments of buckshot were unable to be removed. She said he has a long road of surgeries and therapy ahead of him, now she just hopes nothing else goes wrong for him.
Delores said Tyrell was a loving and caring son that looked out for her, his two sisters, and younger brother, along with the rest of his family.
"My mother has been ill, she lives right around the corner, and every morning he would go over there and help her out with what she needed to do."
July 5, came like a blur to Delores, she said. They had just arrived home in the early morning hours that Saturday from celebrating the Fourth of July when she said they were ambushed. She said she mistook the loud bang she heard for fireworks until she saw Tyrell on the ground.
"It's sad to see your son on the ground dead, and your other son in the house screaming because he got shot with buckshot all over and blood is everywhere." Delores said. "It's just crazy, I really can't register it now, I keep thinking he is at his girlfriend's house."
Delores said she holds no ill will against Daron and wished the outcome of the standoff would have been different. She said now the entire family is at a loss and everyone is hurting.
"He was a loving brother, son, and uncle." Delores said. "He tried to protect his family, but he couldn't, he couldn't protect himself, and I couldn't protect him."
These aren't the first violent tragedies to touch the Gaylor family. Jonathon said his older brother was murdered almost 10 years to the day of McZick being killed. Delores said Tyrell also lost his father to violence when he was a young boy.
Tyrell's funeral expenses have exhausted the money Delores had saved up for the family to move. The family is accepting donations for the expense of the funeral at Serenity Funeral Chapel, located at 2340 West Carpenter Road in Flint. Those that would like to donate can go to the chapel and make the donation in Tyrell's name.
Amanda Emery is a police reporter for MLive-Flint Journal. Contact her at aemery@mlive.com or 810-285-0792. Follow her on Twitter or Facebook.