Waylon Percy Jr. Jackson was killed earlier this month in what both families are calling a fight.
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March 31, 2016 - 9:00 PM
KELOWNA – The parents of Waylon Percy Jr. Jackson are mourning and looking for answers after their son was killed in a fight in Kelowna two weeks ago.
Waylon, 26, died around 9:45 p.m. on March 11 at a house in the 100 block of Gerstmar Road.
Officers arrived to find him unresponsive in a pool of his own blood. He was taken to Kelowna General Hospital but could not be saved.
His mother Kristine Whiskeyjack learned of her son’s death through Waylon's girlfriend and mother of their one-month-old daughter. She told Percy what had happened.
“I was devastated,” Percy says. “My son was my hero.”
Percy describes Waylon, named after Percy’s favourite singer Waylon Jennings, as a natural leader who worked hard to keep the family together. He’d organize family barbecues and was always there in times of crisis.
“He used to cheer me and my wife up all the time when we were down or hurt,” he says. “He was always there to give us a hug or support us. We’re a closer family because of him. He always knew what to do.”
Waylon was the oldest of three brothers and grew up in Good Fish Lake, Alta., but followed work to St. Paul and Edmonton. He had only been in Kelowna a few months when he died.
"My son was a hard worker,” Percy says. “He has never been on welfare. He didn’t like handouts. He wanted to do it on his own.
Police have not released any information about the altercation, saying only that Waylon died as a result of blood loss.
Percy says his son died standing up for someone else.
“We heard he was sticking up for a woman,” Percy says. “This guy had been drinking all day and my boy was upstairs. (The suspect) was beating up on his wife so (Waylon’s girlfriend) told him to go stop him.”
This information has not been confirmed by RCMP investigators but they have said Chad Alphonse, 26, was arrested a short distance away that night.
In the meantime, the Jackson family are left searching for answers. They want to know why their son had to die.
“I’m devastated about what happened,” Percy says. “We just want justice done. It wasn’t fair for him to have gone like that.”
Alphonse's family tells iNFOnews.ca he was not abusing his wife and this was just a fight between two friends that got out of control.
"I love both boys," Alphonse's grandmother-in-law Rita Durett says. "This is such a tragedy for both families."
Alphonse is being held at Kamloops Regional Correctional Centre and will appear in court April 19.
To contact a reporter for this story, email Adam Proskiw at aproskiw@infonews.ca or call 250-718-0428. To contact the editor, email mjones@infonews.ca or call 250-718-2724.
News from © iNFOnews, 2016