Dad haunted by Walmart shooting victim's last breaths

DAYTON, Ohio, Sept. 8 (UPI) -- The father of an Ohio man shot dead by police at a Walmart last month says he is haunted by his son's dying breaths.

John Crawford Jr. says the August 5 phone call plays through his head "every day, all day" since John Crawford III was gunned down by Beavercreek police who mistook the air rifle he was carrying for a real gun.

The bereaved father recalls the frantic phone call from his son's partner, LeeCee Johnson.

"Mr. John. Mr. John. They shot him," he said Johnson told him. "They shot him."

Then Johnson, the mother of Crawford III's two children, put her phone on speaker.

"You could hear in the background he was gasping," Crawford told the Cincinnati Enquirer. "I'm virtually listening to my kid taking his last breath."

Just days before the shooting, Crawford III had turned 22. He had played high school football, and tried to land a scholarship to college, but the birth of John IV put college plans on hold.

Frustrated with his difficulties finding a job, he told his father he was planning to start college.

Now, his death is being investigated by the FBI for possible civil rights violations, and a grand jury has been convened to determine whether his death was a crime.