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Robert has one nephew, Damon Phoenix Lee Pack of Virginia- he must be Brandon’s son. jkh Man killed in attempted robbery • 24-year-old was soon-to-be father • By Krista Pierce- Item Staff Writer • Robbie Pack was excited about becoming a father. He’d been paying a little each week on a baby swing he’d put on layaway and Friday he made the last payment and brought the swing home to his wife, Michele, proud of his purchase. ¶ The couple’s first child is due June 9, but Pack will never see his son. He was fatally shot about 11 p.m. Saturday after what authorities say was an attempted robbery. ¶ According to police reports, Pack, 24, of 175 Toonsie Drive died at Tuomey Regional Medical Center shortly after being shot while in his vehicle in the 300 block of Rolling Creek Drive near the intersection of Boulevard Road. ¶ Witnesses told police three men traveling on foot fired a shot into the car. ¶ Pack’s father, George Pack, said his oldest son was trying to protect his 16-year-old brother, Michael Pack, who was with him at the time. ¶ “A guy came up to Michael, showed him a gun and said “give me everything you got,” Mr. Pack said. “Michael only had a dollar in his pocket so he gave him a dollar.” ¶ Mr. Pack said the gunman told Robbie that he would shoot him if he cranked the car. ¶ “I always told him if somebody pulls a gun on you, they’re either going to shoot you or they’re bluffing,” Mr. Pack said. “Robbie cranked the car and put it in reverse.” ¶ That’s when the gunman fired a shot into the car, Mr. Pack said. ¶ “Michael said Robbie saved his life because he said “I’m losing consciousness,” he said. His final words gave his brother time to grab the wheel of the car to keep from hitting another vehicle head-on. ¶ “They still hit the car, but they didn’t hit head-on,” Mr. Pack said, “and Robbie never spoke again. He used his last breath to save my baby son - all over nothing. We got his wallet back today. He had $17.00.” ¶ Mr. Pack said his youngest son frantically worked to save his older brother, using his own shirt to try to stop the bleeding and screaming for help. ¶ Sumter County Coroner Verna Moore said an autopsy performed on Pack’s body Sunday revealed he died from a single bullet would that hit his heart and lungs. ¶ “It’s just a sad situation,” Moore said, “because of the family. His wife is eight-and-a-half months pregnant. He was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.” ¶ Sumter Police Chief Patty Patterson said investigators have no suspects in the attempted robbery. ¶ “As we speak, investigators are trying to canvas the neighborhood to see if anyone saw anything,” she said. “We don’t know a whole lot at this point in time.” ¶ For the Pack family, the events of the past few days have been like a nightmare. ¶ “This is just a traversty,” Mr. Pack said. “It’s just terrible. It don’t make no sense. If they had taken five minutes to get to know him, they would have known there was no reason to shoot him He was just easygoing and fun loving. He was every father’s dream for a son.” ¶ His mother, Myrtle Pack, could hardly find the words to describe her son. ¶ “He was an angel to us in the purest sense of the word,” she said. ¶ Mr. Pack said his family is struggling with Robbie’s death and the unfulfilled dreams he held for his unborn son, Ashton Robert Pack. ¶ “He had never been so happy,” Mr. Pack said. “All he was looking forward to was being a daddy.” Family mourns shooting victim • Police continue investigation • By Krista Pierce- Item Staff Writer- Police continued their investigation into the shooting death of a 24-year-old Sumter man Tuesday as his family prepared to say their final goodbyes. ¶ Robert “Robbie” Donald Pack of 175 Toonie Drive died Saturday after being shot in the chest by an unknown gunman. His wife, Michele, is pregnant with the couple’s first child - a son she plans to name Ashton Richard Pack. ¶ “I want him to know everything about Robbie,” she said as she grieved with other family members at the Pack home Tuesday afternoon, just a few hours before the visitation at Elmore-Hill-McCreight Funeral Home. “I want him to know what a good person he was and all the plans that he had for the baby and all the things he wanted to do with him.” ¶ Major Perry Herod of the Sumter Police Department said investigators are still actively following leads and interviewing possible witnesses to the shooting, which happened around 11 p.m. in the 300 block of Rolling Creek Drive in Sumter. Police say the shooting happened after three black men approached Pack’s parked vehicle and demanded money. Pack’s brother, a passenger in the car, gave the men all his money - $1.00 - but Robbie Pack, whose father said he had $17.00 in his wallet at the time, cranked the car and drove away. That’s when a single gun shot entered his heart and lungs and Pack’s vehicle crashed into another car at the intersection of Boulevard Road. He later died at Tuomey Regional Medical Center. ¶ “Hopefully, we’re going to get something out of this,” Herod said. “We’ve still got some work to do, but we’re plugging along.” ¶ Investigators have talked with Pack’s 16-year-old brother, Michael, who was with him at the time of the shooting. ¶ Michele Pack said the family has heard rumors that witnesses are starting to come forward, but rumors provide little comfort to the Pack family. ¶ Memories are a better way to deal with the pain. ¶ Looking through a book of photographs of Robbie, family members laugh, but it doesn’t take long for their laughter to dissolve into tears. ¶ Robbie and Michele celebrated their first wedding anniversary last November. They met more than three years ago through friends. Michele said she immediately fell for Robbie. ¶ “I liked his personality, the way he looked,” she said. “Really, there wasn’t anything not to like.” ¶ Now, she wears his wedding band on a chain around her neck, clings to friends and family and awaits the birth of their baby due June 9. ¶ For the Pack family, there are more questions than answers surrounding Robbie’s death. ¶ His parents, George and Myrtle Pack, were celebrating their 25th wedding anniversary Saturday night when they heard the news and rushed to Tuomey Regional Medical Center. ¶ “It sounds like a soap opera,” said George Pack, who works as a truck driver for J. B. Hunt. “I was supposed to be back in my truck on the road.” ¶ Instead, George and Myrtle Pack will say their last goodbyes to their oldest son. ¶ Robbie Pack’s funeral is set for 2 p.m. today at Providence Baptist Church Cemetery. ¶ Witnesses describe the suspects as three black men between 20 to 30 years old. Two of the suspects are described as standing 5 feet, 8 inches tall and weighing 150 pounds. The other stands 6 feet tall and weighs 180 pound. Anyone with information is asked to call the Sumter Police Department at (803) 436-2790. 3 men plead guilty in 2001 shooting death case- By Crystal Owens - Three Sumter men are now serving time in a state prison after they pleaded guilty at the Sumter County Courthouse in connection with the April 17, 2001, shooting death of 24-year-old Robert Pack. • Third Circuit Assistant Solicitor Jason Corbett said Timothy Jerome Vaughn, 22, of 260 Sandy Run, was sentenced on Monday to a concurrent 30 years in prison by at-large Judge Clifton Newman after he pleaded guilty to murder and armed robbery. • Vaughn faced a maximum sentence of life in prison, Corbett said. • His attorney, Jack Howle, could not be reached for comment on Thursday. • Pack died at Tuomey Regional Medical Center shortly after being shot about 11 p.m. while in his vehicle in the 300 black of Rolling Creek Drive near the intersection of Boulevard Road. • Vaughn was arrested after he turned himself in at the Sumter City-County Law Enforcement Center on April 22, 2004. • Shortly after the incident, witnesses told police three men traveling on foot fired a shot into the car, and authorities initially called the incident an attempted robbery. • Pack’s brother, Michael Pack, who was 16 years old at the time of the incident, was with him when he was shot, but was not seriously injured. • Corbett said Vaughn’s co-defendants, Bryant Joseph Hodge and Gregory Woods, who both pleaded guilty on Sept. 7 to armed robbery before 3rd Circuit Judge Howard P. King, where also sentenced on Monday by Newman. • King, he said, deferred sentencing until Vaughn’s case was concluded. • Corbett said Hodge and Woods were originally charged with murder, but pleaded guilty in an agreement to coorperate with the state’s case. • Court records say Hodge, 23, of 170 Rolling Creek Drive, was sentenced to 13 years in prison and Woods, 21, of 220 Rolling Creek Drive, was given 20 years in prison. Both men were arrested on April 23, 2004. • Sumter police investigators said they believe the two Pack brothers picked up someone they did not know and asked him if he knew where they could purchase some marijuana. • The brothers, he said, were directed to a home on Rolling Creek Drive and went inside. • A few moments later, police said, the man returned to the car with two other men and the robbery and shooting were carried out. • Robert Pack apparently attempted to drive away from the Rolling Creek Drive home and was shot once in the chest. His car crashed into another car a few blocks away. • The Pack family told “The Item” at the time of the incident that police had informed them about the possible drug connection, but they did not believe the two young men were there to buy drugs. • Myrtle Pack said that her son Robert had taken a friend to the house as a favor. [3, 4, 6, 8] |
1980 - 2004 (24 years)
