Exclusive: “Love & Hip Hop: Atlanta’s” Shooter Says Estranged Wife Sierra Wasn’t There For Him As He Grieved Over Slain Son
April 3, 2018
Courtesy of Rod Gates Sr.
“LHHATL” Reality Star Says He’s Turned To God To Deal With The Grief Over Son’s Death
“Love & Hip Hop: Atlanta’s” Rod “Shooter” Gates has revealed his inner turmoil following the sudden death of his oldest son.
Shooter is grieving over Rodricous Gates Jr.’s untimely death, just aged 21, last year after he was shot multiple times outside of his home.
The son’s death – and Shooter’s agony – was revealed during last night’s episode of “Love & Hip Hop.”
“I could never imagine burying a son – ever,” Shooter told us. “God sustained me. He carried me through. If not, I would’ve lost my mind. It’s deep.”
On the night of August 6, 2017, a gunman shot the former high school football star four times outside of his Atlanta-area apartment complex last August. Two people have been arrested in connection with the shooting.
Rod Jr.’s death has devastated Shooter and his family, and he said at his worst, he said he considered suicide.
“Do you know how many times I got on the expressway with a gun in my lap?” Shooter said. “But I kept God in the equation.”
The reality star said the impact of his son’s death all the more the more overwhelming because he was going through a divorce from his wife of nine years Sierra, following his infidelity.
Shooter said he understood their relationship is over, but he was still surprised that his now estranged wife had not been a source of support for him as he dealt with his son’s murder. He said Sierra considered Rod Jr. to be her son, and helped raise the young man.
“She made a phone call or two,” he said. “But it takes more than a phone call truth be told. She wasn’t there.”
Rod Jr. wasn’t into the street life, Shooter said, and instead, was the first person in his family to go to college.
“He didn’t live that way, why did he have to die that way?” Shooter asked. “He was paving the way for a whole new legacy.”
Shooter – who earned his nickname from playing dice – said he’s trying to heal by speaking to school kids about his son’s life and death, and has reaffirmed his faith in God.
“If I fumble the ball, we lose the game,” Shooter said. “I could have easily went left. But what would going left solve?”