Wallace Dailey, 57, was shot and killed on August 25, 2017, while walking home in Wilmington, North Carolina. Known as Uncle Gator, Dailey was a long-time Wilmington resident described as the patriarch of a large family — one of 18 children, a father of six and an uncle to dozens. He had spent the evening with a friend at Club Seahorse before the confrontation.

According to investigators, the assailant asked Dailey for a cigarette light; Dailey did not smoke or drink and said he did not have one. The suspect then produced a gun and shot him, fleeing the scene before police arrived after the city’s automated gunshot detection system alerted officers. Wilmington police identified Shaun South Chadwick, 46, as a suspect; Chadwick was later found dead in New York. The motive remains unclear and police have asked anyone with information to come forward.