TAMPA, Fla (WFLA) Mayor Jane Castor was joined by Green Beret and current State Senator Jay Collins for a Veterans Day ceremony at MacDill Park Friday morning.
Gold Star families were recognized during the event including U.S Navy Veteran Evelyn Brady whose 19-year-old son was killed in 2019.
Mohammed “Mo” Haitham was at a Naval base in Pensacola on December 6, 2019, when the FBI reports a member of the Royal Saudi Airforce studying at the base shot and killed him and two other sailors.
“I was working at the time when I heard there was an active shooter, but I didn’t get word that my son had been killed until later that evening,” Brady shared.
Next month will mark four years since the 19-year-old sailor was killed.
“It’s hard, I have to live with that, I have to live with that memory of him,” she said. ” He was almost 20 when he passed, and there’s no new memories to make with him.”
