The parents of 21-year-old Jeremy Dunlap say that there was not ample protection at the New Life Evangelistic Center to prevent their son's stabbing death in 2008. Tammy Church and Eric Dunlap filed separate wrongful death suits against the center today in St. Louis Circuit Court, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
Though both lawsuits involve wrongful death, the specifics of each are slightly different.
Church's suit alleges:
- The Center failed to check or screen residents for weapons.
- The Center did not have guards or a security system in place.
- Residents were not warned that there was no security.
- Shelter officials did not respond quickly enough to help Dunlap.
While Dunlap's suit:
- Acknowledges there were security workers but
- Claims security workers were negligent that day.
The Center told the paper that they now employ extra security officers on the fifth floor, where the men sleep, and that the Center is "saddened" by the family's negligence claim. They say they're in the business of "trying to help people nobody else will help."