MESA, AZ — A Mesa family is dealing with the overwhelming weight of grief after losing their father in a shooting.
Stacy and Gabe Jacobs haven’t had much to smile about since the September 7 shooting, but they can’t help but smile while looking at photos of their father – 49-year-old Michael Jacobs.
“I always say, he was a perfect person,” said Gabe.
Michael Jacobs’ son Gabe says his dad was the first to make sacrifices for his family’s happiness. Typically, he’d be working long hours, especially on holidays, at the job he had for over two decades with CVS.
”He’d be working Christmas Day, so we’d never celebrate on Christmas Day,” said Gabe.
An encounter during an evening shift last week cost Michael his life.
Michael's wife, Stacy, said it felt like a movie, walking up to police in the parking lot of CVS at Brown and Mesa Drive.
“They said there was a tragedy here at CVS,” she said.
Court documents show the suspect, 38-year-old Jared Sevey had been arguing with Michael about shoplifting. Sevey reportedly went home, got a gun and returned to shoot Michael.
Gabe described Sevey’s actions as “Disgusting, cowardly and pathetic.”
On top of the immense grief from losing their father, the Jacobs family is overwhelmed with the abrupt expense of a proper funeral. They’ve been looking to the community for help through a GoFundMe account.
On Tuesday, they picked a plot in Mesa where the father and husband will be buried.
Stacy says her husband made the meals, loved guitars, cars and the Arizona Cardinals – is irreplaceable.
“We always talked about Mike’s eyes, he’s just a beautiful person, I’m going to miss my Mike, my Mike, I don’t know how I’m going to do it, honestly I do not know,” she sobbed.
The family said after over two decades of service to CVS, they expected a higher level of empathy and help with unexpected costs after he was shot while working.
ABC15 reached out to CVS on Tuesday but didn’t immediately hear back.
