Macy's security guard killed in Philadelphia stabbing remembered as hardworking, beloved nephew by aunt
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Family of the man who died in the Macy's stabbing in Philadelphia identified him as 27-year-old Eric Harrison. They said he was working two jobs, including one at the department store, to save up for a house.
"I feel like I'm in a dream," Tyree Harrison-Harvey said. "I'm waiting for somebody to just tap me and say, 'OK, it's over. It was a joke.'"
Harrison-Harvey said it's a nightmare she wouldn't wish on anyone's family. Her nephew, Harrison, was stabbed to death while simply doing his job.
"He wasn't out on the street. He wasn't on the corner," Harrison-Harvey said. "He wasn't battling anyone, he was at work."
The Macy's where the stabbing happened on the 1300 block of Market Street in Center City remains closed. Strangers came to the department store to put flowers at the locked entrance and silently prayed.
"The people at Macy's, he would call them 'auntie.' He would always have a joke," Harrison-Harvey said. "Always welcome people in. Always wanting to help someone."
Harrison-Harvey said the man she thought of as a son was working two jobs to save up money to move out of her house in Lawncrest. Overnight, he worked at the post office and four days a week he drove to Center City to work as a security guard at the department store.
Harrison-Harvey said he was a staple there for the last two years.
"He was everything to us," Harrison-Harvey said. "We're a very, very close-knit family."
Harrison-Harvey is at a loss in trying to understand why the suspect, identified as Tyrone Tunnell, would do this.
"We let you go. Gave you a pass. And you came back? And then come to find out I heard that my nephew wasn't even the one who stopped him," Harrison-Harvey said. "It was someone else and then you stabbed my nephew."
"I just want the thieves to think about not just you stealing and coming, robbing somewhere or stealing merchandise, you're robbing people's lives," she added. "You're robbing the family."
As this close-knit family tries to navigate the nightmare, they ask the community to keep them in prayer.
"Prayers make us stronger," she said.
Macy's released a statement Tuesday afternoon about the store being closed to the public:
"The store will remain closed to the public today, 12/5, as our colleagues begin their healing process and will reopen tomorrow 12/6. Our Employee Assistance Program will have counselors available all week both onsite and via phone. As this continues to be an ongoing investigation, we defer any additional comments about the case to law enforcement."