Sophia Grace talks about him every day. Daddy wasn’t great at braiding her hair, she recently said to her mother, but he tried his best. She tells people he’s in heaven now.
The rest of the family talks about Bryan Cooke all the time, too.
On his cellphone, Mike Cooke found a voicemail his son had left him in October. He didn’t listen to it before his son’s death, and he still hasn’t. The message — to hear his son call him “Pops” again — is a gift he anticipates opening.
Lynda Cooke also saved a voicemail from her son. She plays it over and over, memorizing his laughter. She prefers to hear his voice when she can slip out alone to the dock behind their home.
The Matipan Avenue residence the Cookes were working on is now home to Alecia Wright, 47, who lives with her sister and disabled mother. Their lives are peaceful, but they feel for the Cooke family.
With the shooting in mind, Wright hung a sign with a cross on the front door that reads: “Bless our home and all who enter.”
Mike Cooke was shot and his son was killed during a robbery attempt as they fixed up a home for a family in need. Now Mike is working on forgiveness. "If you cannot find hope, then you remain inside of that tragedy, and it imprisons you." His story: https://t.co/hMwDGZNlEr
— Angie Jackson (@AngieJackson23) April 20, 2018