James Patrick "Pat" Daly, 46, and his wife, Jan, went to the Kmart store on Colerain Avenue for some quick back-to-school shopping Aug. 24. Instead, Daly was caught in the path of a gunman.

Pat Daly speaks about the shooting. (Enquirer photo/GARY LANDERS)

Daly was shot twice in the back by a mentally ill man who had just fatally shot store employee Paul Heid, 22. The gunman, Paul Thomas Faith, 25, shot and killed himself after leading police on a short car chase.

Investigators have closed the case, unable to determine a motive or establish any links between Faith and the victims.

The Dalys say they have made peace with Faith's mother and are grateful for an outpouring of community support that has helped their family cope.

"I tend not to harbor any ill will against the guy," Daly said. "He was just a sick man. Maybe if it was a hate crime or a robbery I could get mad, but it wasn't that way. I can get hurt or upset or whatever, but not mad. Not anger."

In a letter recently sent to the Dalys, Linda Faith apologized for her son's actions.

She explained that her son was mentally ill and the family had repeatedly tried to get him help.

"She said she prayed Pat would have a full recovery," Jan Daly, 47, said. "That took a lot of heart, to come out of your own pain and grief to talk to some other people.

"The three families involved, I think we all realize that this was just a horrible accident," she said. "God never gives you more than you can handle. It might never make sense, but I've always believed there is a reason for this, and some day you'll know."

John Heid of Mount Airy said he doesn't hold any grudges against the man who killed his younger brother.

"I know he didn't do it in his right mind," said Heid, 28. "I just wish he could have gotten help so he wouldn't have hurt anybody else."

Hamilton County court records show that Faith was twice declared mentally ill and was hospitalized four times between 1999 and 2003.

Faith's mother said she is puzzled and heartbroken by her son's actions, but blames them on his mental illness.

He was diagnosed as paranoid schizophrenic in 1999. Heoften heard voices and didn't take his medications, she said.

"I am angry that the system failed my son, but if I was the Heid family, I can't describe how I would feel," Linda Faith said, adding that son often wanted to stay in the hospital but was released because he wasn't deemed ill enough.

She has been preparing a second letter, one to Heid's parents, that she plans to mail this week.

"I wanted to say more at the time but I felt so bad," said Faith, 47, of Delhi Township. "I just couldn't believe it. (My) son killed himself and then you hear he killed someone else. You're like: 'Oh, no; why, why, why?' You just can't fix anything."

The Dalys stopped at Kmart to exchange dress shirts for their two youngest children, Jeffrey, 17, a senior, and sophomore Jamie, 15, both Roger Bacon High School students.

"I hate to shop. I was just there with my wife," he joked Tuesday.

The couple was standing at the customer service counter when they heard two pops - like light bulbs bursting - from the back of the store. Perplexed, they looked at each other.

Then came two more pops.

A customer ran toward them, urging everyone to leave the store.

"There's someone back there shooting and he's coming this way!," Jan Daly recalled.

Pat Daly can't remember what happened next. But his wife has helped fill in the blanks.

He hustled her outside but stayed in the store to try to help others, she said.

Moments later, the gunman ran from the store, jumped into his car and sped off.

She headed back to the store and saw her husband out of the corner of her eye: Lying on the floor, bleeding.

Neither thought he had been shot. But paramedics discovered two bullet wounds in his back.

He was rushed to University Hospital where doctors worked to save his life. One bullet traveled up his neck and into his jaw. Today, he has a permanent plate there holding his jaw together. The second bullet pierced his abdomen, nicked his lung, pierced his diaphragm, left three holes in his stomach, two holes in his bowel and nicked his liver and kidney. Doctors removed his spleen.

He was transferred to the Drake Center to recover in late September. He was released Saturday, but faces at least another 10 weeks of therapy. He still struggles to use his right arm. He is expected to make a full recovery.

Friends and parishioners at St. Bartholomew, the Springfield Township Catholic church where the family are members, have delivered home-cooked meals, mowed the grass and painted the inside of their home.

"I am getting better every day," Daly said. "I have a long way to go; but with what it could have been, I can't complain."

Here's how to help the family of Pat Daly

The James Patrick "Pat" Daly Memorial Fund has been established at Fifth Third Bank to help the family as he recovers from the Aug. 24 Big Kmart shooting.

The money will go toward family expenses and medical bills. Daly, a machinist at Central Roller of Cincinnati, Inc., in St. Bernard, is unable to work because of his injuries. He is not eligible for worker's compensation because his shooting was not work-related.

People have given about $6,000, said his wife, Jan. She also said Roger Bacon Band Boosters are paying for lunch at school for her children and the school is waiving tuition.

To contribute, go to any Fifth Third Bank and mention the fund.

Recent fund-raisers at his daughter, Jennifer's, work, DNA Diagnostics of Fairfield, also raised about $2,700.

---

E-mail jedwards@enquirer.com