Midwest tornadoes kill local man and son on hunting trip; Tallahassee father still missing
TIPTONVILLE, TENN. – A North Florida family that has already lost two people from the tornado that hit Reelfoot Lake State Park late Friday night is missing a third family member.
Ashleigh Hall said her dad, Jamie Antonio Hall, was one of a group of eight who traveled from Tallahassee to Tiptonville to go duck hunting for the weekend.
“We still haven’t located him or heard from him,” Ashleigh said during a phone interview about 1 p.m on Saturday.
The death toll from a series of tornadoes that roared across at least five states continued to rise Sunday, as somber rescuers picked through the rubble of shattered buildings and communities, searching for survivors and remains.
More than 30 tornadoes were reported late Friday, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Kentucky was the hardest hit, with at least 70 confirmed fatalities early Sunday, but scores more people were missing and feared dead elsewhere.
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The group from Florida’s capital city was staying at the Cypress Point Resort. A couple hours before the storms got to Lake County, Hall, his brother Steve Gunn and Gunn's young son, Grays all went to bed. The other five in the group were getting concerned about the storms and went to the resort's clubhouse to hang out and watch the storm come through, not knowing how big it would be.
“We’re from Florida, so we’re used to staying put during a hurricane, but tornadoes are different, and they didn’t expect a tornado to hit the hotel as directly as it did,” Ashleigh Hall said.
The bodies of Gunn and his son were recovered early Saturday morning. But there’s still no word on Jamie.
Ashleigh said family members were traveling to Tiptonville on Saturday to help look for her father.
“He’s a heavy-set middle-aged Black man, and he was wearing his camouflage duck-hunting gear on Friday,” Ashleigh said. “So hopefully someone can find him and get him back to us."
Hall is a mortgage loan officer at Prime Meridian Bank.
“Jamie Hall is a prince of a man. Literally he’s just good people," Bank CEO and President Sammie Dixon told the Tallahassee Democrat. "We continue to pray for his recovery and we haven’t lost hope.”
Another member of their group identified Gunn and his son at the morgue after their bodies were recovered from the debris of Cypress Point.
“Please continue to keep our family in your prayers as we go through this terrible time,” Ashleigh told WCTV Sunday morning.
An online GoFundMe fundraiser was launched Sunday afternoon for the Gunn family to cover funeral expenses at https://gofund.me/55dbe280.
"Steve and Grayson arrived in Tiptonville, TN on Friday looking forward to a weekend of duck hunting on Lake Reelfoot only to have their lives taken by the tornados that ravaged the area that evening," the fundraiser says. "The world lost 2 true southern gentleman this weekend."
Tallahassee Democrat Editor William Hatfield contributed to this report. Reach Brandon Shields at bjshields@jacksonsun.com or at 731-425-9751. Follow him on Twitter @JSEditorBrandon or on Instagram at editorbrandon.
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This article originally appeared on Jackson Sun: Midwest tornadoes kill local man and son, Tallahassee father missing
