Tyre Nichols, a Sacramento native who moved to Memphis, is remembered as a beautiful soul

On weekends, Tyre Nichols would go to the city park, point his camera at the sky, and wait for the sunset.

“Photography helps me see the world more creatively. It expresses me in a way that I can’t describe to people,” he wrote on his website. According to his family, he preferred landscapes and was most fond of the glow of sunsets.

“My vision is to acquaint my viewers with what I see with my own eyes and through the lens,” Nichols wrote. “People have stories to tell, why not capture them.”

Nichols, a 29-year-old father, was returning home from sky photography on Jan. 7 when he was stopped by police. He was just minutes from the home he shared with his mother and stepfather when he was killed in what authorities called a brutal attack by five Memphis police officers who have since been charged with second-degree murder and others. crimes.

“No one is perfect, no one. But he was damn close,” his mother, RowVon Wells, said at a press conference this week, moments after she watched a video of her son being beaten to death. “He was pretty damn close to perfection.”

He was the child of their family, born 12 years later than his closest siblings. According to his family, he had a 4-year-old son and worked hard to become a father. He was an avid skateboarder from Sacramento, California who came to Memphis just before the pandemic and got stuck. But that was fine with him because he was with his mother and they were incredibly close, Wells said. He has her name tattooed on his arm.

Friends at this week’s memorial service described him as joyful and sweet.

“This man walked into the room and everyone loved him,” said Angelina Paxton, a friend who came to Memphis from California for the service.

Growing up in Sacramento, Nichols spent most of his time at a skate park on the outskirts of the city. This can sometimes be a difficult place for younger children. But when Nico Chapman was 10, his parents let him go to the park alone if they knew Nichols was there.

“You remember people being really kind to you, and Tyr was just a very kind person,” Chapman said. “He just always made me feel welcome.”

Chapman’s father, Curtis Chapman, ran a youth group at a local church that often met at the skate park for pizza. Nichols quickly became a regular player, bringing his energetic spirit and quick wit. But away from the band, Nichols often showed up at the Chapmans’ home to talk about life, including being a young parent.

“What attracted me to Tire is that it is real,” said Curtis Chapman. “He talked about being a father and wanting to be a good father and asking for advice.”

On Thursdays, Nichols attended a Bible study with his friend Brian Jung. One day the group was watching a sermon about how the world is full of distractions. Jung said that Nichols was so moved by this that he pulled out his flip phone and dropped it into a cup of water.

“I thought it was amazing just to see his growth and his commitment,” Jang said.

Chan last saw Nichols in 2018 at a food court at a local mall. They didn’t see each other for a while, but Jang said that Nichols came up behind him and gave him a big hug when they caught up with him.

“Honestly, it’s awful to see such a good person go through such unnecessary cruelty, such unnecessary death,” Jang said.

His mother said she raised him to love everyone openly—as long as they don’t give you a reason not to. So Nichols quickly became friends.

In Memphis, Nichols went to Starbucks every morning and Nate Speights Jr. hung out with him there. They chatted about sports or about life. Speights was with his wife once when they ran into Nichols there, and they all talked for a couple of hours. Spates subsequently said that his wife commented, “He has such a good spirit, soul and calm presence.”

Nichols worked second shift at FedEx with his stepfather. Every day they came home together for a break at 7 pm, and his mother was waiting for them to eat.

Wells said she offered to buy her son Jordans, a popular sneaker, but he refused.

“He was just himself,” she said. “He didn’t follow what others were doing.”

When he wasn’t working, he went to the park to skateboard and take pictures. His website, This California Kid, begins with an invitation: “Welcome to the world through my eyes.”

He turned on a gallery of what he considered his masterpieces: black and white bridges and railroad tracks, the neon lights of Beale Street at night. He photographed pink flowers, sunsets over the Mississippi River, grass fields, Elvis statues. He highlights another photographer’s quote: “A good photographer must love life,” she begins.

After watching the video of her son’s death, she stood with her family and their lawyers at the pulpit, trembling to convey what the world had lost.

The lawyer described the beating shown on the video as “he was a piñata man,” and Wells turned away, burying her face in her hands.

In a video to be released Friday, Nichols can be heard saying he just wants to go home, the family’s lawyers said. He was less than 100 yards from his mother’s house.

Lawyers described Nichols’ last words: He called his mom three times.

“Oh my God,” she cried as they talked. “Oh my God.”

She still finds herself waiting every day at 7 p.m. for him to come through the door.

“Now it’s not even realistic for me. Now I have no feelings,” she said. “I know that my son Tyr is no longer with me. He will never enter that door again.”

President Joe Biden shares some details of his call with the Tyre Nichols family.

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AP reporter Adrian Sainz contributed material from Memphis, and AP researcher Rhonda Shafner from New York. Loller reported from Nashville, Beam from Sacramento, California, and Galofaro from Louisville, Kentucky.