A little girl whose dad was shot dead days before Christmas wrote a heartbreaking letter to Santa asking for her father to come back.
Joshua Mitchell, 37, was killed on his driveway shortly after he arrived home from work on December 19 with several neighbours raising the alarm.
Police in Douglasville, Georgia, US, are yet to find the shooter as investigations continue.
In the wake of the tragedy his seven-year-old daughter, Sa'Raya, wrote a letter to Father Christmas asking for her dad back.
Joshua’s wife Nicoele said: “The fact that it happened before Christmas will always be a conversation of 'when we lost daddy'.
“She said 'I'm good in school, I make good grades, can I please have my daddy back?'"
“I’m glad that that morning before he left off to work – we got to say those words to each other," she said.
"So that will forever be in my brain – his kiss and I love you.”
The youngster’s full letter said: “Dear Santa, all I want for Christmas is I want my dad back. I love my dad. Someone hurt my dad.
“I want God to bring him back. I'm getting good grades and I [am] good at school."
The sweet note ended with her saying she and her father celebrate the same birthday and she did not want to celebrate hers without him.
Nicoele added the family spent Christmas discussing their favourite memories with Joshua.
In a sweet tribute she described him as an “honourable marine and an entrepreneur, as well as a devoted husband and stepfather.”
A press release by Paulding County Sheriff's Office said: “Paulding Deputies responded to the Abbington Subdivison in southern Paulding County to investigate the murder of a Paulding County man Saturday night.
“Paulding Detectives partnered with Agents of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) to investigate the murder of Joshua Mitchell.
“On Saturday December 17, 2022, at approximately 9.40pm, several residents of Warrenton Drive called Paulding E-911 to report hearing gunshots in the neighbourhood.
“When Deputies arrived in the area, they located Mitchell laying in the driveway beyond help.
“It was preliminarily determined that Mitchell died as a result of several gunshot wounds to his body.
“Mitchell’s body was taken to the GBI Crime Lab where an autopsy will be performed later this week.
“Detectives and Agents are diligently working to try and determine what occurred during this incident, however thus far there are no suspects and no motive has been determined.”
