The worst news someone could hear on their birthday is that a loved one passed away. But that’s exactly what happened to Dwight Brown, according to People. The 61-year-old tells the publication that on what should have been a day of celebrations, he found out his daughter had been killed in the mass shooting that claimed 12 lives at a Virginia Beach municipal facility.
“She was just everything. She was everything to me,” Brown told People of his daughter LaQuita. “I know nobody’s perfect — but from the time she was born, she had no faults,” her father says. “She was the best person to walk on the planet other than Jesus.”
Brown found out about his daughter’s passing when, according to People, his son called him and told him that LaQuita had been shot and was being airlifted. Brown says he immediately jumped in the car and went to the hospital. Unfortunately, the 39-year-old died at the scene.
“I don’t know a lot of details, but she was never there or at any hospital, Brown told Wavy 10. “She never left the building.”
LaQuita, who Brown says was a “reincarnated Mother Theresa” because of how much she loved to help people, was one of 12 people who died after a disgruntled employee opened fire at the VA Beach Municipal Center. The gunman, who died after a shootout with police, was identified as 40-year-old DeWayne Craddock, a certified professional engineer in the Public Utilities Department for the city of Virginia Beach.