Grafton community speaks on Fowler family shooting
GRAFTON, N.Y. (NEWS10) -Wednesday night's tragedy shocked the usually quiet town of Grafton. Joshua Fowler, 26, faces multiple murder charges after allegedly shooting and killing his wife, father and step-grandmother.
"I speak on behalf of the town that the Fowler and Crandall families, they're old-time generational families from Grafton. This is hitting so many of us in so many ways. I'm sure Grafton will be here to support them as things move on," said Town Supervisor Ingrid Gundrum over the phone.
NEWS10's Anthony Krolikowski interviewed Chris Schillinger who lives a few houses down from the Fowlers. She was on her way back home that night when she got a call from her husband. “He said, 'Don’t come home for awhile. There’s a lot of chaos here and you might want to wait.'”
When she made it to Route 85, one of her neighbors was directing traffic and let Schillinger drive the rest of the way home. She later learned what happened a few houses down.
“Absolute sadness. It’s just such a sad situation.” Schillinger said that she's known Joshua since he was a baby. "Joshua also was part of our youth group for a number of years and it’s just sad to see what has happened.”
She used to work at Grafton Elementary where Schillinger described him as kindhearted but always having some issues. He also had his father’s personality.
Schillinger said Wilson Fowler would help anyone. “We have known Wilson for all the years that he has lived there. Wonderful man. Crackerjack mechanic or whatever you needed done. He was willing to do it for anyone who needed anything.”
“We can always do more. I’m sure. And I did feel that. I thought, ‘I know these people and I didn’t even know that there was these problems apparently that they were having.' You lose contact, life is busy and it really shouldn’t be. God put us here for one another to love one another and to care for one another and that’s what we should be doing,” explained Schillinger.