He was her daughter’s boyfriend. But Daniel Gordon was more like one of her own children.
“He was definitely like a son to me,” Jamita Vortice-Bowden told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “I treated him as such. He called me ‘Mom’ and I called him ‘son.’”
Gordon and his girlfriend of seven years, Amari Bowden, planned a future together. But on Saturday, he was shot and killed at the DeKalb County tire shop where he worked. He was 24.
According to investigators, a customer said he believed Gordon was trying to steal his car from the Tires Plus at 577 DeKalb Industrial Way in the Scottdale area. Gordon had only been moving the car, police said.
Quadarious McDowell, 30, of Atlanta, was charged with murder. He was being held without bond late Tuesday in the DeKalb County jail.
Those closest to Gordon don’t understand how his life could have been taken in such a callous way.
Gordon and his girlfriend had met as teenagers on a spring break trip to Florida. A Lakeside High School graduate, Gordon attended Fort Valley State University, where he earned a degree in criminal justice, Vortice-Bowden said.
Gordon had considered becoming a firefighter and completed training in Cobb County. But he had decided he wanted a different career. After starting his job at the tire store, Gordon had learned a great deal and hoped to one day run his own repair business.
“He enjoyed problem-solving, putting it together and taking it apart,” Vortice-Bowden said. “It was his passion.”
That’s what makes it even harder to understand why he was killed.
Credit: Channel 2 Action News
Credit: Channel 2 Action News
“He was just working, doing what he loved,” Vortice-Bowden said. “Daniel wanted to work. He wanted to spend time with his family. He wanted to spend time with the love of his life.”
Her daughter and Gordon’s parents were still too distraught to speak publicly, she said. But Amari Bowden expressed her feelings in a GoFundMe page created to assist with funeral costs.
“A day that’s supposed to be about new beginnings and fresh starts ended up being the worst day of both our families’ lives,” she wrote. “We lost a genuine soul, a lover, comedian, a hard worker, and a friend but more importantly we lost a caring SON, a loyal BROTHER, a loving BOYFRIEND, a TRUE GENTLEMAN and ANGEL on this earth.”
Funeral arrangements for Gordon were pending.
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