Background: News footage of the scene on Oct. 10 where William Tatum was killed at his Columbus, Ga., home (WTVM). Inset: William “Bam” Tatum (Legacy Obituary).
The fiancee of a Georgia man who was fatally shot by two masked suspects told local media that the horrific crime robbed her of her “best friend.”
William “Bam” Tatum, 40, was coming home from getting takeout for his family on Oct. 10 when he was accosted by two unidentified men. Tatum”s fiancee, who did not want to be identified, told local ABC affiliate WTVM that she heard one of the men from outside her front door tell her, “If you don’t open the door, we will kill him.”
After the terrifying ordeal was over, the two men killed Tatum anyway and took nothing.
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Tatum’s fiancee told WTVM that the fatal shooting took place in front of her and the two children she shared with Tatum. She said that she purposely looked away from what was happening so she could not identify the suspects, thinking that would protect her and her children from being harmed.
According to WTVM, Tatum was a self-employed father of four children, and the two children he had with his fiancee were his youngest. On the night of Oct. 10, Tatum was coming home from work for a movie night with his family when he was reportedly walked up to his own front door at gunpoint.
From behind the door, Tatum’s fiancee said that she heard Tatum trying to protect her and the children, even telling the suspects to kill him and telling her not to open the door despite the threats. Ultimately, she decided to open the door, explaining to WTVM, “If they would have killed him outside, and I wouldn’t have opened the door, that would have haunted me forever because I’m like, ‘I should’ve opened the door, and he told me “no.”‘ I heard him say, ‘Kill me.’ He was trying to protect us.”
She told WTVM, that from behind the door, she told Tatum that she was there for him, and thought “he’s probably so mad at me” for agreeing to open the door.
The two men “left with nothing,” Tatum’s fiancee said, adding, “You just took an innocent life for no reason, away in front of his kids, and took my best friend away.”
The Columbus Police Department is investigating the fatal shooting and asking the public for information that may lead to an arrest.
