Everything most important in Robert Booth’s life seemed to coalesce Friday evening as friends and family gathered for his pastoral installation ceremony and he surprised his girlfriend by asking her to marry him. She said yes.
Bishop Kerry Thomas, who hosted the event at God’s United House of Grace and Mercy on Leonard Avenue, said that afterward as they changed into their regular clothes, the 25-year-old Booth wrapped his arms around him in a bear hug.
“He embraced me so tightly, I can’t even relate to you — you know the passion you can feel in a hug?” Thomas said. “He whispered to me that that night … was the first time he’d ever felt at home.”
Barely four days later Booth, father of a 2-year-old boy, was gunned down outside his south High Point apartment.
The High Point Police Department released few details except that it happened shortly before 8:30 p.m. Tuesday in the parking lot at 304 Ardale Drive, near Interstate 85 Business east of S. Main Street, and that no one else was shot.
Police did not release his name Wednesday, but friends identified him to The Enterprise as Robert A. Booth Sr.
Police said Wednesday they were seeking a maroon-colored SUV, possibly a Nissan Rogue.
Brandon Smith, a longtime friend, said everyone who knew Booth is in a whirlwind.
“We’re just devastated. We went from planning a wedding to planning a funeral,” he said.
Smith had just been riding with Booth on Sunday, listening to gospel music from an album Booth was about to release.
Music and the church bound together many elements of Booth’s life. He was raised in a religious family, played music for his church and later felt called into ministry, following in his father’s footsteps, Smith said.
Smith met Booth over 10 years ago at God’s United House of Grace and Mercy, where Booth was the organist.
A generous man with a gregarious nature, Booth met people easily and quickly made people feel at home. In addition to being a musician, he had started doing some stand-up comedy a couple of years ago, Smith said.
“He loved making people laugh,” he said.
Booth’s humor and generous nature fed into the ministerial outreach work he did, Thomas said.
“Robert went after people other people were afraid to go after, such as gang-bangers and people on drugs, people who didn’t look like us or smell like us,” Thomas said. Despite wading in where others dared not, “I believe he was a man that had no enemies.”
Before the pandemic, Booth began building his own congregation, Hood Holiness Church. His pastoral installation ceremony on Friday essentially formalized his role as a pastor and recognized the work he already had been doing in his church, Thomas said.
Leading up to the ceremony, Booth also began telling those closest to him about plans to propose to his girlfriend, Star Lane, Smith said. He asked her parents for permission, and he told Thomas of his plan to pop the question during the ceremony.
“He said, ‘Bishop, is it OK if I propose to my girlfriend at my installation?’ ” Thomas said. “He was worried it would detract from the ceremony, but I thought it would add to it.”
Booth later posted a short video to Facebook showing the moment. As he recited a passage from Genesis about marriage — “For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and be joined to his wife” — he knelt before Lane, who bent over as though losing her breath as the church erupted in cheers.
Thomas said Booth’s father, Rodney, drove more than five hours from his home in Georgia to be at the ceremony. In a photo Booth also posted to Facebook, Rodney Booth absolutely beams with happiness alongside Robert and Robert’s son, R.J.
Robert Booth’s energy and happiness overflowed as well, Thomas said.
“I don’t know if he even slept that day,” he said.
Everything seemed to be coming together at once for Booth, Smith said.
“Robert had really gotten on a straight path to know what he wanted to do with his life,” he said.
It is unclear exactly what happened Tuesday evening, Thomas said. Everyone is shattered, and he has heard differing versions.
Smith said he was told that Booth saw a vehicle outside his home and someone sitting inside, and he did what his instincts always drove him to: He went to talk.
“Robert — he was just doing what he normally does,” Smith said. “He went out to see if they needed help.”
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