LETTER: Family of man killed in officer-involved shooting speaks out
By Contributor
This letter is in response to Jean H. Broeckx letter: What is the Delay in Investigation of Officer-Involved Shooting of Waylon Edey.
Let me first say that your letter was well written and I am by no means refuting any of your thoughts or questions. However, I am going to explain to you and all the readers why you haven’t heard from us, his family.
This whole ordeal has been very devastating to our family. There is not a day that goes by that we don’t think of him. With time our pain will lessen, but we will never fully heal from this loss as we will only ever hear
one side of what happened that night.
We are angry! We want justice more than anyone. We have so many unanswered questions and we want answers! We are his family and we know as much as you do. They are not telling us anything. Everything is speculation and that only breeds more anger and more questions.To see all the comments people are making about what they think went on stings to the soul. Everyone is entitled to an opinion but opinions should be based on facts and NO ONE has any of the facts yet except for the IIO!
We have been advised by our lawyer not to talk to the media, not as a gag order, but to prevent our family from having media on our doorstep while we are still grieving the loss of our son, father, and brother. He had four children, three that are under the age of 15 that could get dragged through this media scandal. It is our job as their family to protect them from the constant barrage of media people that would interfere with their grieving.
We want the public to know and remember Waylon as a loving father of four children, a husband, a son, a grandson, a brother, and an uncle. Whatever faults he had, family was still his life. Like any father, he took his kids camping, watched them play sports, and tried to provide the best for them.He was the kind of guy that would give the shirt off his back to help out someone in need.He is dearly missed.
I am sure that you will hear more from us when the Independent Investigations Office’s report is released. We are entrusting that they will sort through this situation and justice will be served accordingly.
The Edey Family
