Family pay tribute to father killed in Amarillo

Mon Nov 9 2009 09:24:59

A British father shot dead on a road trip through the United States after stopping in Amarillo because he loved the cult song was "just in the wrong place, at the wrong time", his family have said.

Tom Reeve was gunned down while visiting a bar in the Texan city - made famous in the UK by the Tony Christie chart hit, (Is This The Way To) Amarillo.

The 28-year-old and his two friends were only making a brief stop there during a trip from San Francisco to Florida.

In a statement issued from his detached family home in Maidenhead, Berkshire, his mother Margaret and step-father Brian Millin said: "Tom was a much-loved son, brother and father who will be missed by the whole family and very many friends."

Mr Reeve, who had a nine-month-old daughter, died of a wound to the torso after the masked attacker walked into the Spotted Pony bar on Thursday night (US time).

They added: "Although he worked for many years in the licensed trade he was, in fact, teetotal. He was on a holiday with two of his friends, driving from San Francisco to Florida and had chosen Amarillo as a stopping place because he liked the song. He was just in the wrong place, at the wrong time."

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