According to the York Daily Record, Chad Merrill had been sitting with his friend, Jerrell Douglas, at the Red Rose Restaurant and Lounge in the Hellam Township when the pair were confronted by James Saylor, who targeted Douglas with racial slurs, including "n***er." Merrill and Saylor are both white, and Douglas is black.
Although the bar's surveillance footage doesn't clearly show whether any words had been exchanged between the patrons, Hellam Township Police Chief Doug Pollock told the publication that Saylor was quickly kicked off the premises by the bar's owners.
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"You could tell he was giving him crap," Pollock, citing the bar's surveillance footage, told the outlet. "He's being a jerk."
Although witnesses indicated that Merrill did not show any signs of hostility toward Saylor, recordings do show him leaving the bar and approaching Saylor, who was already inside in his car waiting to exit the parking lot. Within moments, Merrill was on the ground after being shot in the chest by Saylor. The shooter later crashed into a sedan and fled back home to his parent's basement.
Police are still unsure why Merrill opted to go outside, since he didn't appear to be leaving the bar and had not demonstrated any anger towards Saylor.
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"Maybe [Merrill] was trying to right the wrong," Pollock told the York Daily Record. "This is unusual. In the 16 or 17 years I've been here, there hasn't been a homicide. It doesn't happen here."
Merrill, the father of a four-month-old baby, died an hour after the shooting. After being tracked down by officers, Saylor was arrested and charged with one count of criminal homicide.
Family members have suggested that Merrill was trying to make peace with Saylor. Richard Merrill, Chad's older brother, told AP that his brother "was someone who wanted to create peace."
A GoFundMe campaign has been launched by the family. As of Monday, it had shot over its $15,000 goal, raising more than $45,000.
