Share and Follow
HAMPTON, Tenn. (WJHL) — According to the family, Phillip Glass, 31, had been planning to meet his niece and head to North Carolina to visit his mother on Dec. 1, but he never made it out of Elizabethton.
Glass was found fatally shot in a vehicle on Oakmont Drive in the early hours of Thursday morning.
Glass’ older sister Tabitha Roark told News Channel 11 that Glass was friends with the two men charged with first-degree murder in Glass’ death, Cody Alan Miller, 23, and Brandon Lee Blackwell, 34.
“They were all friends. I seen Phillip take the shirt off his back and give them to those boys,” Roark said.
Roark and her husband have had custody of his 19-month-old daughter since the beginning of this year.
Roark said, even though Glass wasn’t legally allowed to see his daughter, she was his first priority.
“He messaged me every day. Or you would call me every day. “Hey, how’s my favorite girl? Does she need anything,” Roark said. ” She’ll get to know that about him, she’ll never get to know him. It’s not fair.”
Read Related Also: Convicted felon pulled over during shooting investigation and arrested for gun possession
“This little girl was his heart. His mom was his heart too.”
According to an affidavit obtained by News Channel 11, Blackwell bragged that he had shot Glass and was sure he had killed him after the shooting.
Blackwell was arrested hours after the shooting for an unrelated gun crime. He was also charged with harassment after members of the Glass family filed a report with Kingsport Police alleging that Blackwell threatened to quote “shoot their house up like he did their uncle.”
We reached out to Kingsport Police for copies of the harassment report but they declined to release it saying it relates directly to an active homicide investigation.
Roark says Glass was staying with friends near where the shooting occurred on Oakmont Drive.
And she says despite his difficult past, her brother was a good man.
“Yes, he took the wrong path but he was trying to straighten his life out,” Roark said.
