INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Customers and friends gathered Thursday to support the family of a man who was gunned down outside his restaurant Wednesday night.
George Barnett Nelson Sr. died shortly after arriving at the hospital from his barbecue restaurant on the corner of 26th and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Streets. He was 56 years old.
Chef Tawana Gulley, Nelson’s cousin, said Thursday of the Pa & Ma’s Backyard BBQ restaurant: “This is his legacy and everyone came here today … because he put his heart and soul into this community.”
“He included everyone. He fed everyone who came through that door.”
On the door of the restaurant hangs a sign that reads “Goon With a Spoon,” which customers know as Nelson’s trademark.
His family, friends and staff opened the restaurant on Thursday to honor Nelson’s legacy and dream.
He opened his restaurant years ago. Less than six months ago, the restaurant moved to a new location on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Street, just a few blocks south of the I-65 interchange on the northwest side.
At the restaurant on Thursday, diners filled their plates with soul food, just as Nelson would have wanted. As usual, photos of Nelson and his wife, two children and grandchildren hung on the walls for diners to enjoy.
Coworkers told I-Team 8 that Nelson’s door was always open and that he would give the person food if they didn’t have money.
Gulley says Nelson inspired her to become a chef.
“This person who took his life, you don’t know what you did. You had no idea what you did. You took the hearts of so many people,” Gulley said.
Nelson’s only daughter, Brockelle Nelson, says her father knew the shooter. Nelson had hired the man to install the restaurant’s siding. She says her father wanted to pay half before the siding was completed and half after, but the installer wanted all the money up front.
“So the guy came up here and they were arguing back and forth. My dad is 6’4″ and 369 pounds. He’s an intimidating man. So they got into a little scuffle and the guy backed up and shot my dad three times in the chest. They said my dad fell in the mud over there, face down,” Brockelle said while standing outside the restaurant.
She says the argument was over a few hundred dollars.
Nelson’s daughter is moving from Washington, DC to Indianapolis and says she will continue to run her father’s business and keep it going. “I’m a representation of my father. I’m a real daddy’s girl, my father was like my best friend, so I know that’s what he would have wanted from me.”
Police arrested one man and detained three others.
Among those who stopped by the restaurant Thursday to pay their respects to Nelson was the Rev. Charles Harrison of Barnes United Methodist Church.
Harrison, founder of the Indianapolis TenPoint Coalition, said of Nelson, “He is a good man who was committed to doing good and helping people in the community.”
Janice White says she has known Nelson for more than nine years. “He is a gentle, caring giant. He cares about everyone.”
