Shirley Kay Taylor’s family speaks out after the mass shooting at the Mad Butcher Grocery Store in Fordyce that claimed her life

FORDYCE, Arkansas – Angela Atchley, one of Shirley Kay Taylor’s daughters, is overwhelmed and confused after her mother was killed in a shooting at a local grocery store.

Shirley Kay Taylor was 63 years old; on July 1st she would have turned 64.

“I got the call right at lunchtime, around 11:40 a.m. or so,” said Angela Atchley.

A call from her son that she will never forget.

“He couldn’t get her to answer the phone and we knew there had been a shooting, so I just dropped everything and went to see Fordyce at Mad Butcher’s,” Atchley said.

Atchley said it felt like the longest car ride, with many “what if” questions running through her head.

“I just prayed it wasn’t her,” Atchley said.

Then another call came, still not from her mother, but from her cousin with heartbreaking news.

“My cousin confirmed and identified her body,” Atchley said. “She was out on a date and was shot.”

Atchley’s worst nightmare came true: her mother was taken from her forever.

“She was just a great person. She would do anything for anyone. If the man had stopped and just asked for a little help, she would have helped him,” Atchley said.

There was no core memory, but qualities she will appreciate and miss about her mother, Atchley said.

“She was very sarcastic, she loved to cook, she was the hardest working woman I’ve ever met in my life, she loved her family and her children, she always put us first no matter what, she never did anything for herself,” Atchley said.

The small town of Fordyce is stepping in in many ways and coming together to help victims and their families.

“The love and support is really overwhelming, everything is fine at the moment,” Atchley said.

A feeling that Atchley doesn’t know if she will ever be able to overcome.

She picked up her groceries from the Mad Butcher so she could go home and do what she loved: cook.

“She was usually sitting on a stool in the kitchen when you entered her house,” Atchley said.