{"id":12308,"date":"2012-05-04T15:08:45","date_gmt":"2012-05-04T22:08:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/198.57.196.122\/~gdatwofo\/theavtimes\/?p=12308"},"modified":"2012-06-30T11:47:51","modified_gmt":"2012-06-30T18:47:51","slug":"saying-goodbye-to-nathen-taylor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/2012\/05\/04\/saying-goodbye-to-nathen-taylor\/","title":{"rendered":"Saying goodbye to Nathen Taylor"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
After the memorial service in Lancaster Friday, Nathen Taylor was transported to Bakersfield National Cemetery for a military burial.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\"\"<\/a>LANCASTER \u2013 Family, friends and military personnel gathered at the Center for Spiritual Living Friday to honor and remember the 30-year-old veteran who was murdered in Lancaster last month.<\/p>\n

Nathen Crocket Taylor<\/strong> was a former Sergeant in the U.S. Army. His eight years of service included three tours of duty, twice to Iraq and once to Afghanistan. After completing his last deployment about two years ago, Taylor moved back to Lancaster to be with his family and enrolled at Antelope Valley College where he was studying to be a Computer Software Engineer.<\/p>\n

Those aspirations were cut short on Saturday, April 21, when Taylor was shot to death in his car outside of his brother\u2019s home at 733 West Avenue H-7, in Lancaster. Around 12:30 a.m., several men walked up to the car, one gunman fired several rounds into the vehicle, and then the men ran away, according to a news release issued by the Sheriff\u2019s Department on the day of the murder.<\/p>\n

Family members who spoke at the two-hour memorial service Friday said they were still struggling to cope with Taylor\u2019s death. They described Taylor as the strength and the rock of the family and said Taylor was constantly striving to be better and to get those around him to strive for better, as well.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnything that I wanted to accomplish, he was my biggest motivator,\u201d said younger brother, Patrick Taylor. \u201cIf I was to do anything wrong, he would still let me know that he was by my side\u2026 even when I had no one to talk to, when I couldn\u2019t go to my parents, I would talk to my brother like he was my dad.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Patrick Taylor said his older brother was his biggest motivator.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cHis dedication to wanting to be a better man was one of the reasons why I fell in love with him,\u201d said fianc\u00e9 Tiffany Tillman. \u201cHe was a great listener and had a great attitude about life.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNathen brought a little piece of heaven down and he was true to his family,\u201d said mother Bonni Snydle.<\/p>\n

Officials have not identified a motive for Taylor\u2019s shooting, and so far no suspects have been arrested in connection with the incident.<\/p>\n

After Taylor\u2019s memorial service, family members again appealed to the community for information that would lead to those responsible for their loved one\u2019s murder.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople don\u2019t shoot somebody in the way that my brother was shot and not speak up about it and tell somebody,\u201d said sister Rachel Taylor. \u201cIf you know something, come forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rachel Taylor said her brother should be remembered for his service to his country, not for how he was murdered.<\/p>\n

\u201cResearch my brother\u2019s name; that is the legacy\u2026 \u201c Rachel Taylor said. \u201cand for him to come out of this community, they should be damn proud.\u201d<\/p>\n

George Taylor said his son\u2019s strong record of military service makes it especially hard for the family to cope with how he was taken away.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d rather see him lose his life in the middle of combat fighting for his country than to come here, in the country that he fought for and loves, and be killed on the streets,\u201d said George Taylor.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Richard Taylor said his nephew was the strength of the family.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

George Taylor said he would like to see a \u201cViolence Against Veterans\u201d act that would command the judicial system to treat people who kill veterans in the same manner as people who kill first responders.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou end up taking the life of a first responder, and the judge knows he\u2019s a first responder, you will get the maximum they can give you,\u201d George Taylor said. \u201cI believe each and every veteran that serves this country should be looked at in that same light.\u201d<\/p>\n

George Taylor also had a message for his son\u2019s killer.<\/p>\n

\u201cI truly do believe law enforcement will get you. These people have told me they will do the best that they can on this case and I do believe they will do it,\u201d George Taylor said. \u201cThey\u2019re going to bring you to justice\u2026 for you\u2019ve taken something from the community that they loved and adored.\u201d<\/p>\n

Anyone with information regarding the shooting death of Nathen Taylor is encouraged to contact the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Homicide Bureau at (323) 890-5500. To give anonymous tips, call “Crime Stoppers” at (800) 222-TIPS (8477).<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Family members have established the "Memorial Fund for Former Army Sgt. Nathen Taylor."<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Taylor\u2019s family has established a memorial fund. Those wishing to make a donation can visit any Antelope Valley Bank branch and request to donate funds to the Memorial Fund for Former Army Sgt. Nathen Taylor. Wire transfers or donations from out of state can also be made using the following routing account and savings account numbers \u2013 122003396(routing #) and 3010473552 (savings acct #).<\/p>\n

Nathen C. Taylor is survived by mother Bonnie Snydle; father George Taylor; daughter Alexis Taylor; fiance Tiffany Tillman; sisters Kinnzie, Rachel, Kalein and Marcela Taylor; brother Patrick Taylor; and many aunts, uncles, nephews and cousins.<\/em><\/p>\n

–<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

LANCASTER \u2013 Family, friends and military personnel gathered at the Center for Spiritual Living Friday to honor and remember the 30-year-old veteran who was murdered in Lancaster last month. Nathen Crocket Taylor was a former Sergeant in the U.S. Army. His eight years of service included three tours of duty, twice to Iraq and once […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":12316,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[719],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12308"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12308"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12308\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12316"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12308"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12308"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12308"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}