Teen Who Fled Father's Killer Recorded Farewell Videos

But Jack Gershman ultimately survived
By Evann Gastaldo,  Newser Staff
Posted Sep 18, 2020 2:02 AM CDT
Teen Who Fled Father's Killer Recorded Farewell Videos
John Thomas Conway's mugshot.   (Butte County Sheriff's Office)

The California teenager who escaped the gunman that shot and killed his dad during a father-son off-roading trip was so convinced he wouldn't survive, he sent a number of farewell recordings to his mom. "They're basically goodbye videos,” Jack Gershman's mom tells People. “In one of them, he’s like, 'I don't think I'm going to make it out of here, and I just want you to be happy and prosper, and try to smile and remember me as the happy-go-lucky kid I was.'" Fortunately, search teams found the 15-year-old the following day.

John Conway, 40, is charged with the murder of Ari Gershman, a 45-year-old pulmonary doctor. Conway is also charged with attempted murder, burglary, and firearms crimes; police say he had previously shot and wounded two others. His motives remain unknown. Jack Gershman told CBS back in July that his dad had just asked Conway, who pulled up behind their Jeep in an ATV, for directions in the remote Tahoe National Forest when he was killed. "The shooter pulls out a pistol and starts shooting ... and then, after two or three shots, he was hit." (More shooting stories.)

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