Heroic Father Gunned Down While Saving His Little Daughter
January 17th, 2008 by Glenn Sacks, MA for Fathers & Families
"The capacity to love is a vital, rich and all-consuming function...you can find nobility and sacrifice and love wherever you may seek it out..."--Rod Serling
Most fathers would do anything to protect their daughters, and here's another example. Like hero father James Kim, Albert Collins gave his life to save his family. According to the San Francisco Chronicle:
"Collins' last act was to throw his body over the top of his daughter to shield her from the barrage that would leave him dead, his daughter with a graze wound and two brothers injured...
"A cousin held Collins' head. Nash said she watched helplessly, as her son made what would be his final requests. 'He told his sister to look out for his son and his daughter.'"
The story is below--thanks to Brad Smith, a reader, for sending it to me.
A father gets gunned down saving his daughter
Jaxon Van Derbeken
San Francisco Chronicle
Sunday, January 6, 2008
On New Year's Eve morning, Albert Collins took his 9-year-old daughter, Mariah, to pick out a treat at a candy house in the Sunnydale public housing project.
It was a fatal errand.
For years, candy houses have been makeshift havens in crime-plagued neighborhoods where residents sell and buy candy and other items in safety - rather than venture to liquor-dealing corner stores that are often magnets for trouble.
Collins, 30, had recently gotten a job through Goodwill Industries and was staying with his mother at the Sunnydale public housing project in San Francisco's Visitacion Valley. By all accounts, he was trying to make a better life for himself, his daughter and his 13-year-old son, Albert Jr., whom he took custody of after the boy's mother had recently been jailed in Oakland.
But he didn't get the chance.
As Collins stopped on the way to the candy house to talk to friends - two brothers who lived in the neighborhood - they were hit with gunfire at 11:40 a.m.
Collins' last act was to throw his body over the top of his daughter to shield her from the barrage that would leave him dead, his daughter with a graze wound and two brothers injured.
"He turned and sensed something was happening and grabbed her," said Inspector Michael Gaynor of the San Francisco police homicide detail. "At some point, he saw the guy with the gun - that was when he grabbed her."
With that, Collins became the last of the city's 98 homicides in 2007, the highest yearly death toll in more than a decade. According to police, he may have been an innocent victim in a gang-related shooting, by gang members firing at rivals nearby.
Read the full article here.
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January 17th, 2008 at 6:17 pm
"Most fathers would do anything to protect their daughters, and here's another example."-Glenn
Good story about fathers and love! Thanks Glenn.
The only thing I would add is that I think most fathers would do anything to protect both their children...........daughters and their sons alike. I just thought the quote above could be construed by some to imply that daughters are more worth protecting than sons. I know glenn didn't mean to imply that, though. Minor quibble.
Keep up the good fight glenn.
masculist xy
January 17th, 2008 at 6:51 pm
Great story Glenn. This is what you call love and this is what millions of father have to offer. I'll always give my support to the families.
January 17th, 2008 at 6:59 pm
To be honest, I think most fathers would be more protective of their daughters. I'm not saying it's right, but merely another advantage that females have.
January 17th, 2008 at 6:59 pm
Feminist Susan Faludi bleats that men's role as a protector of women is a myth. I wonder what that little girl thinks?
January 17th, 2008 at 7:29 pm
Whenever males kill males, women and children are often in the line of fire, like this time.
There, I saved you a trip over to the feminist sites.
DanH
January 17th, 2008 at 8:48 pm
A little girl just lost the greatest guy she will ever know.
January 17th, 2008 at 9:03 pm
Ouch. That's one more reason I want my kids in a good neighborhood!
January 18th, 2008 at 10:48 am
"Ouch. That's one more reason I want my kids in a good neighborhood!"
In 1965, Senator Patrick Moynihan was condemned for his observation of the consequences of family breakdown:
“From the wild Irish slums of the 19th century eastern seaboard, to the riot-torn suburbs of Los Angeles, there is one unmistakable lesson in American history: A community that allows a large number of young men to grow up in broken families, dominated by women, never acquiring any stable relationship to male authority, never acquiring any rational expectations about the future — that community asks for and gets chaos.”
We are churning out more of these neighborhoods every day!!
January 18th, 2008 at 11:39 am
This man has my sincere respect..
I hope they're not letting his ex out of jail anytime soon just because of it.
January 22nd, 2008 at 6:12 pm
As Jesus of Nazareth once told his Apostles before His death,
"Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends." (John 15:13)
That verse of scripture was exemplified in this father laying down his life, that his daughter might live. I say to this day that if my children and I would have maintained contact with each other, they would have told me where they were living and I would have rescued them from the hell that their mother and stepfather put them through
I would have done this at the expense of my life. I pray for my children's safe return to me someday soon.
May 8th, 2008 at 12:15 am
[...] A father gets gunned down saving his daughter [...]
June 8th, 2008 at 7:42 pm
Amazing.
Now we know that the only good father is a dead father.
Sad, he died. A truly terrible loss.
As for the rest of us "dead men walking"...
The battle continues.
Keep on pressing.
Glen, keep up the good work!