‘This is my family’: Wife of man killed after dispute in parking lot honors him through his business

CHARLOTTE — The wife of a man who died after a hit-and-run in a Concord Walmart parking lot Thursday night is now honoring his memory at the business that he ran for over a decade in northeast Charlotte.

Police said Leon Fortner, 55, was hit by a driver after getting out of his car in the parking lot on Thunder Road and confronting suspect Anthony Scott Amey about a parking spot. Investigators say Amey hit Fortner and drove away before police found him at his north Charlotte home.

Fortner’s wife of 32 years, Mary Fortner, was with him when the tragic event happened. Mary said she is now trying to pick up the pieces of her life after her husband was killed.

“In private, he was funny and had a good sense of humor,” Mary said of her husband.

Mary told Channel 9′s Glenn Counts what happened at the end of the confrontation between her husband and Amey.

“So, I stopped the van ‘cause he had opened the door, and he jumped out. He stepped out of the car and that was the last I saw of him,” Mary Fortner said.

Mary said she didn’t see the confrontation but started to get worried when she didn’t see her husband.

“I didn’t see him, and I thought that’s kind of weird, and I saw people on cellphones walking around, and I got the sense that something wasn’t right, and then they started looking down, and I saw him on the ground,” she said.

Fortner was pronounced dead on the scene by paramedics.

The Fortners are well known in the gaming community and Leon ran the gaming store “Get Some Game” for 12 years. He was a father figure for many of the gamers who frequented the store, and many gamers were there on Saturday to support the family.

“I looked up to him. He was a nice guy when he wasn’t busy. He was happy bringing joy to the place,” said one gamer.

Anthony Caston is another gamer who said he felt welcome in the community the day he walked in the store.

“Everyone you meet here is family, that’s the feeling I got when I first showed up,” Caston said.

That family feeling is the reason Mary is working this holiday weekend instead of staying home.

“Well, this is my family. The gaming community is my family, and I feel a lot of love here,” Mary said.

Amey was arrested on felony hit-and-run charges and has already made his $50,000 dollar bond and is out of jail.

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