MT. MORRIS TWP, MI – Samuel Cole III remembers those values his father instilled in him growing up.
Responsibility.
Hard work.
Family.
“My dad was a great, great human,” said Samuel Cole III of Samuel Cole Jr. “I used to kind of brag my dad was there always in my life.”
Samuel Cole Jr. was shot and killed Oct. 9 at his home in the 5000 block of Judith Ann Drive in Mt. Morris Township. He was 57 years old.
Donqua D. Williams, 27, the nephew of Samuel Cole Jr.'s girlfriend who had been staying at the home, has been charged with single counts of first-degree murder, felony murder, armed robbery, carjacking, and four counts of felony firearm.
Samuel Cole Jr. worked for more than two decades at Discount Tire, working his way up to become management until he was rear-ended by a drunk driver 2002 that injured his back.
The father and son shared a love of cars, with Samuel Cole Jr. owning a 1968 Chevy Camaro, 2012 Chevy Camaro SS, and 1965 Chevy Impala.
Samuel Cole Jr. helped his son begin a car shop years ago. The son currently operates a collision shop in the area.
His father would stop by the shop three to four times a week.
“I came to give you a hug,” recalls Samuel Cole III of what his father would say to him during their visits. “I just had to come see your face. I love you son.”
Debra Love-Yearby, Samuel Cole Jr.'s sister, called her brother an “all-around loving caring person.”
“He definitely was a momma’s boy,” she said, with her brother the third of fourth children to mother Pearlie. The family moved from Arkansas to Flint when Samuel Cole Jr. was approximately seven years old.
Love-Yearby said her brother was always trying to help people.
“If he didn’t have it, he’d get it from somebody else,” she commented. “He would always say ‘We’ll get it. We’ll work it out.’”
Echo Brown, Samuel Cole III’s fiancée, said his father gave of himself but “Things weren’t always about him, it was about everybody else.”
“That’s one of the things that I respected the most about him,” she said. “His dad was really selfless. Some people don’t know how to accept someone being good to them. That’s the sad part about the whole thing.”
Genesee County Prosecutor David Leyton said police reports did not speak to any argument between the Williams and Samuel Cole Jr. prior to the shooting.
“It has the victim saying to the alleged shooter ‘you don’t have to do this,’” Leyton said.
Williams attempted to shoot Samuel Cole Jr. inside the home, but the gun jammed.
Samuel Cole Jr. then went outside. Williams allegedly followed him outside the home with the weapon and shot Samuel Cole Jr. in the eye.
After the shooting, Samuel Cole Jr. was then allegedly run over by Williams as he fled the scene.
Williams and the vehicle were found during the afternoon of Oct. 10 along Tuxedo Avenue in Flint.
Samuel Cole Jr. thanked Mt. Morris Township police for their continued efforts on the case.
The incident doesn’t mark the first run-in with law enforcement for Williams.
He is also connected to the theft of a funeral vehicle from Moon Funeral Home in Flint last month. The incident ended after a miles-long chase when Williams stripped naked and walked into a local hospital.
Related: Man arrested at Flint hospital after stealing funeral home van, leading police on chase
Williams was tried and acquitted in the 2010 murder of a pizza delivery driver on Flint’s north side, per MLive-The Flint Journal records.
Testimony from a woman at the trial pointed to another man as a shooter.
Related: Teen found not guilty for role in shooting death of Flint pizza delivery driver
Aside from the business, Samuel Cole III said his father taught him how to become a man.
“His dad wasn’t in his life growing up,” he said. “He was big on taking care of family, taking care of your responsibilities. Work, work, work. He was 30 minutes early to work every day.”
Samuel Cole III admitted to being young and dumb in years gone by, but the older he got the more recognition came that his father wasn’t like as a kid.
“You’re such a great man, a respectable man,” he said others often tell him. “I got it from him.”
The only boy out of four siblings to a single mother, Love-Yearby said her brother was “like the little man of the house.”
“He called my mom every morning,” she recalled of their relationship. “Since she passed, he’d go up to the cemetery and have his coffee there.”
Love-Yearby can’t grasp the callousness behind her brother’s murder.
“He died as if he had done something to someone, not as if he had done something for someone. He was a helper,” she said. “You would think he would have killed someone, and this was retribution. He had just left my house and went home and cooked for that man.”
Despite of the anger and grief he’s feeling, Samuel Cole III called for no more bloodshed.
“I don’t want to see anyone else killed,” he said. “I want to see justice… I want the truth to come out and I want to see justice.”
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