CHESAPEAKE, Va. (WVEC) -- A surviving member of the Chesapeake family rocked by murder-suicide expressed love and gratitude Friday. It's been one year since police started investigating the deaths of the Dooley family.
Michael Dooley, whose mother, brother, sister-in-law, niece and nephews died, said his family doesn't have any specific event planned this weekend and they don't need one to be able to remember.
"Every day, every hour, every moment is a remembrance event," Michael Dooley wrote Friday. What he meant might surprise some people. His words are not meant to convey sorrow or self-pity. Dooley believes he is “one of the lucky ones..."
Those who know the Dooleys story might not expect to hear those words from a man whose loved ones died in a murder-suicide. One year ago, police said 26-year-old Cameron Dooley shot and killed his parents, two siblings, and grandmother, before killing himself.
Michael explained his family did indeed lose a lot that day, "but the realization that they are gone is but a reminder of all that I had." He still considers himself lucky to have so much to miss.
He allowed 13News Now to share his words, so others can learn from his family's way of thinking.
"I had more love, and family time, and laughter, and trips, and Sunday lunches after church, and great memories in the time I had with my family than most people will have in a lifetime," he conveyed.
He asked all his family and friends to "take nothing for granted, tomorrow is not promised, let those you love and care about know how much they mean to you, make time to get together, and spend more time with those you love."
