Remembering April Fulghum
By: Stephanie Claytor
Updated: October 12, 2012
Family and friends are gathering to remember the life of 32-year-old April Fulgham. Her brothers Shelby Thomas and Hunter Freeland said she was a loving sister, mother, and wife. She was married to her husband Scott for nearly 13 years. The Greenwood native was also a photographer and a woman who always put her family first.
"The protector of the family, that's what she was," said Hunter Freeland.
"When you think of like a dream family, that family that you would see doing everything together at concerts, football, games, just everything outside of the house..that was my sister," said Shelby Thomas.
Her brothers tell NBC 6 that she was having a rough time lately, dealing with the loss of two of her dogs in the past year. She was also remembering her mother, who passed away in September of 2007.
Her brothers said on the morning of her death, she was in better spirits because her family bought her a new dog. In fact, they said she was telling a friend about the new dog on the phone just before her alleged gunman came in and shot her.
The man accused of killing Fulghum is Robert Earl Walter, 54. He was a maintenance worker at the complex who was fired the day before the shooting. The brothers said witnesses told them that Walter was a painter at the complex and that April and Walter had got into a disagreement about painting a wood trim. Walter allegedly refused to paint the wood trim and Fulghum had reported him to HR, whom fired him on Tuesday. Walter was told to return his uniform on Wednesday. When he came to return the uniform, April's brothers said witnesses told them that he walked in with the uniform draped on his arm and the gun underneath, and that's when he started shooting.
Walter turned himself in hours after the shooting. According to Bossier City Police, he has been charged with one count of second degree murder. His bond has been set at $750,000.
April Fulghum's visitation hours are Friday, Oct. 12 from 6 to 8 p.m. at Rose Neath's Southside Chapel. Her funeral is Saturday, Oct. 13 at 11 a.m. at Open Range Fellowship Church in Greenwood, LA. Memorials can be made in April's name to "Dogtired Ranch Small Dog Rescue, Inc". "The Fulghum Family Benefit Fund" has also been set up at Pelican State Credit Union.
