COLUMBUS, Ohio — Days after a young father was killed at a west Columbus gym, 10TV sat down with the girlfriend and the mother of his child.
Shakira Virgil and Tabias Cunningham met while they were both living in Mississippi.
"He was just a loving person was sweet, he was sympathetic, he really just kept us,” she said.
Shakira said Tabias worked two jobs providing for his family. He has plans to one day start coaching in hopes to even coach their now 10-month-old daughter, Golden.
"It's hard looking at her knowing that she's going to be walking soon and he's not going to be here to see it… he ain't never going to be able to see none of it,” she said.
On Tuesday night, Shakira dropped Tabias off at the Esporta Fitness center on Hilliard Rome Road to play basketball.
"He said I’m going to play one more game, then we're going to go so I left. I went to go pick up the food from Walmart and when I came back the place was just surrounded with police lights,” she said.
Tabias was found by Columbus police officers suffering from multiple gunshot wounds.
He was taken to a hospital and died from his injuries.
On Thursday, police said there are two men that are currently persons of interest. They're asking for the public's help with any pictures or videos.
"If this was your family, how would you want people to respond? And would you want people to come forward with information or not?” said Commander Mark Denner.
Shakira said she can’t help but wonder why someone would want to kill Tabias.
"What did he do to make it that intense to want to kill him,” she said.
She has a message for the individual/individuals responsible for pulling the trigger.
"If you want to take a man from his family, from his loved ones from his daughter, then I really believe that you should come forward," Shakira said.