Last Saturday, a teenager approached and shot Thomas Hand as he was sharing the Gospel on Texas Street in Montgomery. Hand, who was with his 2-year-old son and his wife, who is pregnant with the couple’s second child, suffered a fatal wound and was pronounced dead at the scene.
Hand’s funeral will be held in New Orleans. His wife is the former Miss Mississippi Christine Kozlowski. Her sister launched the fundraiser for her nephew, Roman, and the couple’s unborn child.
She wrote on the go fund me page – “This fundraiser is going to serve as a savings account for the son and baby of Thomas Hand Jr. The funds raised by this account will go toward helping pay for my nephew Roman and the baby’s future expenses. Any and all funds donated will be appreciated during this tough time for the Hand family. My sister Christine Kozlowski Hand will be the beneficiary for this account.”
As of early Sunday, it had raised more than $50 thousand dollars. The original goal was $3,000.
Police have arrested 17-year-old Jerimiah Walker of Montgomery, charging him with capital murder in the shooting death.
The motive of the murder remains unclear.
The Hands moved to Montgomery last year to escape growing violence in the New Orleans suburb where they previously lived. Longtime friend Kevin Rayan told Daily Mail: “It’s crazy because he was telling me every day, ‘I want to get away from this, go buy a house in Alabama.’ And then this happened.”