Despite losses, fatal ZombiCon victim made others smile

CLEWISTON, Fla. – The voice on the other line was frantic.

The news was just as startling.

“The girlfriend called me. She was like screaming into the phone and I was like ‘Calm down,” said Amanda Andrews. “She was like ‘He got shot, he got shot.’ I said ‘Who got shot? She was like ‘Tyrell got shot, Tyrell got shot.’ So my reaction was, ‘Is he okay?’ So she was like ‘No, he’s laying in my lap. He’s not moving. Hes not breathing.’ She’s like, ‘Tyrell wake up, Tyrell wake up.’ She was like…’Amanda he’s dead.'”

Andrews’ younger brother, Expavious Tyrell Taylor, 20, was shot dead Saturday night while attending ZombiCon in downtown Fort Myers. Five other people were injured after shots rang out at about 11:45 p.m. in front of Los Cabos Cantina on First Street.

“I was like ‘What happened?’ And the phone hung up,” Andrews said. “And I end up calling back and she answered the phone and was like ‘Amanda he’s gone. He’s gone.’ Then I hear the officers telling her ‘You need to move, you need to move.’ And she was like ‘Y’all need to do something. You need to do something. Help him. Help him.’ Then the phone hung up again.”

A man identified by witnesses as Taylor’s brother grieved over his body as it laid motionless on the sidewalk, according to cell phone video. After being pulled away from Taylor’s body, the man was consoled by an unidentified woman.

Taylor, an offensive lineman for ASA College in North Miami Beach, previously played football at Clewiston High School. He was able to make others smile despite his own losses: His father died when he was 11, followed by his mother in 2013. Two months after his grandmother died in 2014, his son was stillborn.

“He was loving, he just…he was the type of person that you never would really catch upset,” Andrews said. “I’ve seen him upset on the football field. I’ve seen that. But like any other thing, he always had that mentality to make everybody laugh.”

It was on the football field where Taylor caught the eye of Ernest Jones, ASA’s head football coach. Out of 175 players who tried out for the team, Taylor was one of six who made the cut.

“Tyrell is full of energy, full of excitement,”Jones said. “Very competitive. He’s big. He’s fast, he’s strong and he can play the position so he was doing well. I know him, I know he’s kind, I know he’s loving. I know his teammates are important to him. People are important to him. Playing football was important to him. His family was important to him. That’s why he was here this weekend because he was coming here to see his family.”

The visit would’ve been a pleasant surprise for family members, who were dealing with the loss of another relative.

They were returning from the funeral when they got word about Taylor, said his uncle, Efrem Washington.

“I’m still hurting for him cause of what he went through, and he still managed to make the best out of life,” he said. “‘Cause he put the right people in his life. And he tried to do what’s right, he did what’s right. But you know, you can do everything right, and at the spare of a moment…”

No arrests have been made in Taylor’s killing but Fort Myers police released a suspect description late Monday morning.

“I just hope they can catch him, whoever did it,” Andrews said. “I just hope they can be caught. I want justice, I don’t want to have to walk around with that on my conscious, that my brother’s killer is still at large. He could be standing in my face, laughing at me saying ‘Oh I killed her brother and I still walked free.’ I don’t want that. I want justice. I hope he turns himself in.”