Over 29 years ago, Phillip Robinson was working at his dad's grocery store when he heard gunshots fired in the parking lot. When his dad didn't' return, Robinson suddenly realized his father — who was coming back from the bank with about $10,000 in cash — had been shot and left for dead.
The gunman, Ron Hammer, pulled the trigger, despite adamantly denying it for years. His father's killer got a life sentence for murder and 35 additional years for armed robbery.
When Wayne Robinson was pronounced dead at the hospital, his son wanted revenge. His first thought about the shooter: "I wanted him dead."
Although he sought vengeance for years, Robinson, who had become a pastor at New Vision Baptist Church, realized that he needed to forgive the man. He received a letter from Hammer, who admitted he pulled the trigger and asked for forgiveness.
Now, some 29 years later, Robinson is friends with the man who murdered his father. After Robinson testified for Hammer at a parole hearing last year, Hammer walked out of prison in March.
Robinson traveled to Hammer's house in Virginia to meet his father's murderer, a man who had become a friend.
They embraced and later prayed together.
"I reached out two hands," Robinson said. "And it was powerful to think last time he had physical contact with my family, it was death. And now it was life. It was pretty overwhelming."
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