The father of a Dickson County murder victim talked exclusively to NewsChannel 5 about his loss and disbelief after his son, Quintin Tidwell, was killed in a double homicide.
As he stood outside his home, Tony Tidwell looked down at a full page of notes he had scribbled on a legal pad in front of him.
"I'm so lost for words right now, that I had to write this down," Tidwell said.
Tidwell is the father of two of the victims in Tuesday's shooting off Picnic Street in Charlotte. His son Quintin was killed, and another son Monte Springer was injured.
His cousin, Marcedez Teroy Bell, was also killed.
"I just don't understand how it could've got this far," Tidwell said, reading from his notes. "I don't understand why they couldn't find some kind of way to work this out without death being a part of it, without gunplay being a part of it."
The Dickson County Sheriff's Office hasn't said what led up to the shooting, and Tidwell said he didn't know either.
"You know, when we grew up you'd get in a fight, you'd use your fists and you'd live to see another day. You'd shake hands and walk away, and I don't know what caused this to go into the situation that's it it's in now," Tidwell said.
Tidwell remembered his son Quintin as someone who always had a smile on his face.
"You could be in a bad mood and he pull you out of it," Tidwell said. "He would make me laugh, and I don't even know what I'd be laughing about."
Meanwhile, Tidwell said his son Monte Springer was recovering from his injuries at Vanderbilt Medical Center after being shot nine times.
"I thank the Lord, and I thank everybody through their prayers, that he wasn't taken away from me," Tidwell said. "He's still on this side of the ground."
Tidwell said he holds no remorse or anger to the suspects charged with the murders, or their families.
"Teroy and Quinton, I love you, I miss you," Tidwell said as he teared up, not needing to look down at his notes in front of him. "That's it."
