Sharice Wright knew not to make eye contact with her dad when she got in trouble at home because he’d make her laugh.
“He was the one person in a serious situation you (didn’t) look at because he was going to make you laugh,” Sharice, 21, said of her dad, Loyce Wright.
Wright, 43, who gave good hugs and cracked good jokes, was shot and killed while working as a security guard in an Austin Family Dollar Friday afternoon, Sharice said. His death came days after the Chicago City Council voted to regulate where dollar stores could open new locations, citing safety as one reason for the restrictions.
Wright was in the store around 1:30 p.m. when someone shot him several times, Chicago police said. He died a short time later at Stroger Hospital, according to the Cook County medical examiner. No one was in custody as of Friday night, police said.
Wright, a resident of west suburban Hanover Park, was a loving dad to four daughters: Sharice and Shanice, 21, Londyn, 17, and Laianna, 9.
He’d worked security elsewhere before starting at the Family Dollar and had been at that store for about a year, Sharice said.
“We were always concerned (for his safety), but he was so big — he was really a gentle giant,” she said.
Wright would reassure them: “He would always say, ‘no one’s going to do anything to me,’” she said. “And I believed that because he (did) nothing to no one.”
Wright liked to go to the gym and teach his daughters his latest exercises, or sing with them at the top of their lungs to Dru Hill in the car, Sharice said.
She last saw her dad at her sister’s track meet the week before he died. He had been “screaming for Londyn, making sure she felt supported.”
Sharice said Loyce raised his daughters to respect themselves and took deep pride in their accomplishments.
“He made sure you knew ‘that was my kid,’” said Londyn Wright.
She plans to attend Dominican University in the fall and study medicine.
“He was so proud of that,” Sharice said. “He’s going to miss out on a lot of her milestones like graduating high school and her prom and moving into a dorm.”
Londyn said she’d remember her dad coming out to her extracurriculars and the way he’d give her a hard time about boys. But mostly, she said, she’d remember how loving Loyce was.
“He gave the best hugs,” she said. “He knew how to make you feel better no matter what.”