Mourners pay respects to homicide victim

By Katie Stallcup

Published: July 16, 2008

A week after Felton Tate, 44, was shot to death standing outside his Lee Road 39 home, family members and friends gathered at Pine Level A.M.E. Zion Church in Hatchechubbee.

About 120 people crowded into the small church, and another 150 stood outside.

Robert Lockhart said he worked with Tate at Flowers Baking Company in Opelika.

“He never had a bad day. And if he did, you wouldn’t know it,” Lockhart said. “He was a good person. You don’t just meet people like that. He was a great person to everybody he met. If you ever wanted a brother, you’d want one like Felton.”

Although many remembered Tate as a hard worker and family man, his cousin, Linda Warren Reeves, remembered he liked to have fun, too.

“He liked to hang out with his family,” Reeves said. “He was a fun person. To me, for somebody to up and do something like this, you want to know who and why.”

Sandle Thomas, one of Tate’s cousins, stood in the shade waiting for the service to start. He said he wondered why the shooter hadn’t been arrested yet.

“I feel like what happened was a loss,” Thomas said. “It shouldn’t have happened to a guy like him. Not Felton.”

Lee County Sheriff’s Office Chief Investigator Capt. Van Jackson said at his office Wednesday that his department is still working hard on Tate’s case.

“We have several different angles we’re looking into,” Jackson said. “We’re continuing to interview potential witnesses and following potential suspect leads. We’re working with the (Alabama) Department of Forensic Science. We’re hoping they might give us assistance in locating any evidence that might be microscopic.”

Arrests aren’t always made right away in homicide cases, but the cases never get dropped, he said.

“It depends on the circumstances in which it occurred and how quickly we develop information leading to an arrest,” Jackson said. “It could be days; it could be as long as a year.”

Even cold cases 20 years old get solved, he said.

“I do feel we are making progress,” he said.

Johnny Warren stood outside the church door, watching people enter to view the body.

“I don’t know what to think,” Warren said. “He was quiet, a good guy. A family man. He didn’t bother nobody. He didn’t deserve this.”

| 737-2574