‘He would do anything for anybody’: Man fatally shot in Forest Lawn remembered as loving son
Posted Dec 22, 2023 10:50 am.
Last Updated Dec 22, 2023 11:39 am.
Dale Lyons got a call from his ex-girlfriend regarding his 43-year-old son and only child, a call no parent ever wants to hear.
“It was Tuesday morning when she called me … to talk about …,” he recalled tearfully.
“I was at work, and she called me in the morning, and she said ‘Our son has been shot and killed.’ And I said, ‘What, are you serious?'”
Donald Lyons, also known as Don, was shot and killed while a woman was seriously hurt outside a hookah lounge in Forest Lawn on Monday.
“He was our only son. We have no other children. Sometimes I do ok, and then something will hit me, or something I’ll think about, and I’m a mess,” Dale said.
There has been a lot of grief for the family to decompress, so close to Christmas, and as hard as it is for Don’s parents, there are three kids without a father this holiday season.
“He loved his children. His oldest daughter is 22, and she has two little boys. His youngest is, she’s eleven years old, and she loved her father,” he explained.
“She said that, ‘When I get older, I want to move in with my dad. She said, ‘I love my dad,’ and she said, ‘I want to live with my dad.'”
Investigators say just before 10 p.m. on Monday, Dec. 18, officers were called to 35 Street SE near International Avenue for reports of a shooting.
When they arrived, police found Donald near a truck, and declared him dead on the scene. He is Calgary’s 21st homicide of the year.
Police said Wednesday the shooting was a targeted incident. Donald was identified on Thursday.
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The details about the case, are even a mystery to Dale as he doesn’t understand why his son was killed as he says he was thoughtful, and kind.
“He would do anything for anybody. It wouldn’t matter who it was. If it was a stranger on the street if they needed help, he would help them,” Dale told CityNews.
“If someone was going to shoot his girlfriend, he would be the type that would stand in front of the gun and take the shot to save someone’s life.”
This has prompted him to call for something, anything, more to be done about gun violence.
“Where I grew up in News Brunswick, we did a lot of hunting, we handled guns all the time when we used to hunt. That case, I see no harm,” Dale explained.
“There’s too many people that have guns now that are just using them for evil to shoot people. And it’s sad to say that the way the world is today, you look sideways at someone today they’ll … shoot you.”
Watch: Calgary police provide update on gun violence
Calgary police say gun violence is down this year compared to last, sitting at 95, a drop from 122. Police chief Mark Neufeld says Alberta has seen 536 shootings in the province, which was about a 35 per cent increase from the previous years.
However, many people have been expressing concerns about brazen acts of violence.
There have been growing calls for more conversations regarding violence in the city following numerous brazen public shootings in November.
In addition, a lot of the shootings appear to be connected to organized crime, as police try to tie together who is involved.
A town hall on Nov. 29 saw community association representatives from several different neighbourhoods around the city, including Wards 5, 9, and 10, come together to address concerns from the public around safety following what police say are targeted stabbings and shootings.
Meanwhile, as the investigation continues into Monday night’s shootings, Lyons says he has a message for people.
“We don’t know what tomorrow is going to bring. You could be here today, gone tomorrow. If there is a fight, argument, don’t let the sun go down on the anger. Straighten it out before you go to bed at night, because you just don’t know.”
Investigators are seeking a dark grey or black, 2016 to 2018 Toyota RAV4 seen near the location of the shooting at the time.
They ask anyone with information to call them at 403-266-1234 or leave a tip anonymously through Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477.
