Wife of security guard fatally shot at Dallas CVS remembers his heart, leans on faith to forgive killer

The wife of a security guard shot and killed at a downtown Dallas CVS Pharmacy store on Friday night is sharing how she’ll remember her husband.

The family says Anthony Egeonu was confronting shoplifters when he was shot three times. Police have arrested two juvenile suspects.

NBC 5 spoke with Egeonu’s wife about the light he still leaves behind.

Octavia Egeonu still remembers her first date with her husband: always smiling and joking, Anthony took her for ice cream in his cousin’s car to impress her.

“That was the light in him that I loved, and just knowing that he was a Christian man,” said Octavia Egeonu.

They were soon married, raising three kids together as Anthony pursued his dream of one day becoming a police officer.

In the meantime, he was working as a private security guard in Dallas.

“We knew the risk, but not at this magnitude, because that’s why we decided to go security,” said Octavia Egeonu. “Because he knew, well, police officer right now is kind of dangerous, I want to come home to my family, I want to come home to my kids.”

When his shift ended, Anthony would usually make it home after midnight. Instead, early Saturday morning his wife got a call from his supervisor at the security company.

“And he told me that Anthony had been shot,” said Octavia Egeonu. “And I was like what, what do you mean?”

The family said while working at a CVS in downtown Dallas, Anthony approached a group of juveniles - and was shot three times.

“He didn’t have any time to react, he confronted them because they were shoplifting,” said Octavia Egeonu. “And they just shot him. He was doing his job, like he always did.”

Arriving at the hospital, Octavia learned her husband had died.

Speaking to NBC 5 just one day later, Egeonu said she was mourning her husband – but also leaning on her Christian faith to forgive his killer.

“He’s still alive, and we are going to see him on the other side,” said Octavia Egeonu. “The reason why I can forgive them is because they made a bad decision, I don’t think they knew the magnitude of what this was going to do.”

Recently laid off, it’s Octavia’s job to raise their three children now. While she grieves Anthony, she’ll have to figure out what comes next.

“He was our support, you know, right now it’s a little tough for me to think about because it’s just me now,” said Egeonu.

The family is raising money online to help pay for funeral services for Egeonu, which have not been set yet.