BROMELY, Ala. (Wala) — There’s never a good time for a father to lose his son, but for Amos Barnes, the news of his son’s sudden and violent death a few weeks before Christmas was a gut-punch.
Barnes, pastor of St. John the Baptist Church in the Spanish Fort, said he was concerned during Joshua Barnes’ eight-and-a-half years in the military – including in Afghanistan. The 2009 graduate of Daphne High School left the military, saying, he never dreamed he had received a call from his daughter once on December 6 at 2 p.m. His son was shot dead in the night.
“You always thought that, you know, he’s doing two tours in Afghanistan and then traveling back and forth, you know?” They said. “But that morning was one of the hardest moments of my life.”
The shooting occurred after a barroom dispute broke out in a parking lot at the Headquarters Bar in El Paso, where he was stationed at Fort Bliss in Texas. Police there told ABC7 that the shooting took place after an altercation between different groups of women. He told that someone fired indiscriminately, in which four people were killed. Three of them suffered injuries; Barnes died on the spot.
Her stepmother, Monique Barnes, said, “The way she died was silly.” “And we just want justice for those who took our son’s life.”
She said that she has known him since the age of 5 and considers herself his mother. He said that he was very close to his son from a previous marriage, who was a few years younger.
“Joshua was such a sweet and giving child,” she said. “He always wanted to be the one who helped. And I believe that’s why he went into the army. He wanted to serve this country. Because he saw the need there. He’ll make you take the shirt off your back when you need it.”
Barnes, who worked for CSX for 38 years, said his son worked on generators while in the military and found a job after his service as a civilian contractor doing similar work. Joshua was taking online classes for his college degree, his father said.
Barnes said he did not know the exact circumstances of the events that led to the shooting. But he said he couldn’t be prouder of the man who was Joshua. He said that his son had to fight from the time he came to work. Born prematurely, he weighed just 1 pound, 14 ounces, Barnes said.
Barnes questions his son’s decision to join the military right after graduating from high school.
“It blew my mind, you know, when he was in high school,” he said. “He just decided he wanted to join the army.”
Added Barnes: “I had set things up for him, but he had things better for himself, you know?’ So I really appreciate that, you know?”
Joshua’s death is the latest in a run of tragedy for the family. Barnes said that his cousin, Dominic Marshall, died in shooting 2019 At a house party in Elsanor. And just last month, he said, another cousin died in a traffic accident in Bay Minute. Two other family members recently died of the disease.
But nothing, Barnes said, compares with losing his son.
“It’s tough times, ’cause, you know, he’ll call now,” he said. “‘Pop, what do you want? What do you want for Christmas?'”
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