GARFIELD HEIGHTS, Ohio — The family of Jose Ervin Jr. spoke to News 5 Saturday and urged the man who killed him to turn himself in to the police.
"I just want to tell the guy, whoever you is, we know who you is, to 'turn yourself in.' You see what you done to my family,'" said his father, Jose Ervin Sr.
"He's got twins here, a boy and a girl. They need their daddy now," said Ervin. "We got to step up and raise our grandkids. You took a good man away."
Ervin Jr. was with a group at the Turney Pit Stop gas station on Turney Road Friday morning. They were ordering food and drinks after leaving a neighborhood bar.
Surveillance video obtained by News 5 from the gas station shows an argument between Ervin Jr. and another man in a white shirt. Ervin and a woman who identified herself as a bartender walked back to the car after receiving their order.
The two men begin to fight, but the two women intervene. In the video, you can see Ervin Jr. back away as the man in the white shirt pulls out a gun from his bag and chases him across Turney Road. You can hear several gunshots fired at Ervin as he trips and falls on a curb in front of the Dunkin'.
Ervin died at the hospital from gunshot wounds in the attack. The unknown man and the two women get in the car and drive away.
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"My son was begging, my son was saying, 'Don't do this, don't kill me, man,' and he did it anyway. They did it anyway," said his mother, Rhonda Ervin.
His mom said Jose was well-known in the community.
"He used to go to the police station just to hang out with them, and they knew him very well. One person that knew him very well, that broke down crying in my arms, Detective Patrick from Garfield Heights police station. He said, as soon as he saw him, he knew who he was, and they tried to save him," Rhonda said as tears fell down her cheeks.
"When I got to the hospital, they told me I can't see my brother," said his sister Chloe Ervin-Dozier.
"They had already identified him, and they did not want us to see him like that," said Ervin-Dozier.
Jose's sister added that all her brother wanted to do was have fun. She said he was not a threat to anyone.
"He brought everybody together, whether you liked each other or not."
Now that Jose is gone, his family said they are broken. They called Jose the glue that kept everything together.
"He was awesome, he was awesome," said Rhonda. "I know Jose. I know him. He would tell me, 'Mommy, you OK, and you will be OK.'"
Ervin leaves behind a wife, Scierra, whom News 5 did a story on in August 2023. The couple, who both had the same birthday, gave birth to twins on their birthday. The story made national headlines.
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Scierra told us their 1-year-old twins and the child she is pregnant with will never know their father.
"We just got married in June. We didn't even get to be married for six months. This is real life. They don't have a right to steal a life. We are not God. We don't have that right."
Sunday at 3 p.m., there will be a balloon release in his honor at the Dunkin'.
