![John Crawford Junior shares memories of his late son at a memorial Thursday night outside the Beavercreek Walmart. Crawford III was shot by police inside the store seven years ago. [Chris Welter / WYSO ]](https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/bd86616/2147483647/strip/true/crop/2048x1360+0+0/resize/840x558!/format/webp/quality/90/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Flegacy%2Fimages%2Fnews%2Fnpr%2F2021%2F08%2F1025528018_875841495.jpg)
It was a typical Thursday evening inside the Beavercreek Walmart store, with shoppers wheeling around their carts and scanning their groceries.
Outside the store, John Crawford Jr. was speaking to a small crowd about his late son. He didn’t have anything prepared, but he ended up talking for about an hour.
“He was kind of a generally laid back kind of guy, you know, until he played football,” Crawford said. “And then, you know, we had to almost pay for two children's dental plans... I was looking forward to him playing college ball, you know, going out, playing college ball. Of course, unfortunately, that didn't happen.”
Crawford III was shot by a Beavercreek police officer inside the store while holding a BB gun. Officers said they thought the gun was real and claimed that he was pointing it at people. Security footage later showed that he was not.
The family is in the process of filing a wrongful death lawsuit against Walmart, Crawford Jr. said. The city of Beavercreek settled a wrongful death lawsuit with the family for $1.7 million.
“They're not going to belly up if I get a few of their billion dollars for the death of my son that they helped cause,” Crawford Junior said. “Because had they done what they should have done, we wouldn't be here.”
Their next goal is to rename the street going into the Walmart parking lot after John Crawford III.
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