It’s the support from the greater Rome community that has sustained the Davis family as they find a way forward without their mother and grapple with the sudden and public nature of her death.
Cassie Lashae Davis was killed last week in what police have described as a murder-suicide while she waited in the drive-thru lane of a busy Chick-fil-A. Her family and friends will gather for a funeral at 2 p.m. today at the Henderson and Sons funeral home in Rome, where the 39-year-old spent her life and helped to raise seven children.
“My heart is so heavy this morning, knowing what my babies are facing,” her husband, Jackson Davis, said Wednesday. “But my heart is also full of joy this morning from all the people that came out to pay respect to their beautiful mother.”
Davis declined an interview with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution but posted a statement on behalf of the family on Facebook. The couple were separated at the time of her death.
Just one week ago, Cassie Davis was waiting in her vehicle at the Truett’s Chick-fil-A on Shorter Avenue when 56-year-old Anthony Green pulled into the parking lot, got out of his vehicle and shot her three times through the window on the passenger side, according to Floyd County Deputy Coroner Chris Giles. Green then turned the gun on himself, delivering one fatal shot, Giles said.
It was 7 a.m. on a Wednesday morning, and the breakfast rush was in full swing. While police have not said what motivated the murder-suicide, Giles confirmed to the AJC that Green and Cassie Davis had been in a relationship.
The shooting sent shockwaves through the Rome community and inspired an outpouring of grief for Davis’ family, especially her children. Four called her “mom,” and she was also helping to raise her husband’s three grandchildren, according to her obituary. She is also survived by three stepchildren.
Her children were her “greatest joy in life,” her family said in the obituary.
“These kids are broken, crushed in their spirit, and I know today is going to be so rough,” Jackson Davis said ahead of today’s services. “The support that every one of you guys are showing is what’s keeping us going.”
Following the private funeral and burial, the family will receive visitors at Desoto Park Baptist Church at 1107 Cave Spring Road in Rome.
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