A West Palm Beach homicide detective who lost his daughter to gun violence is heading to the nation's capital to attend Tuesday's State of the Union address.
Detective Sgt. Gregory Key said he was in church nine years ago when he learned his 19-year-old daughter — a new mother — was an innocent victim in a drive-by shooting in Arizona.
U.S. Rep. Lois Frankel, D-West Palm Beach, invited Key to the State of the Union, which is expected to highlight President Barack Obama's calls for tighter controls on gun sales. The president will leave a seat empty during the speech to represent the victims of gun violence.
Key, 55, still hasn't moved past his daughter's death, despite the four perpetrators being convicted.
"I think about my daughter every single day," he said. "There is no such thing as closure — not for me, not for my family."
Frankel said she selected Key because he represents families touched by gun violence in her district. Each member of Congress is allowed to invite one person to the State of the Union address.
"He's an example of how it can happen to anyone at any time," Frankel said. "Here is a homicide detective who is sitting in church in West Palm Beach when he got the call his daughter was killed."
Key's 19-year-old daughter Lindsay was killed outside of a house party on Dec. 2, 2006, in Chandler, Ariz. Key said his daughter had contacted her cousin and wanted to go home shortly before she was shot.
Four gunmen unleashed a barrage of bullets toward a house that had 20 people in the front yard. Six people were struck, including Key in the head. She was the only person hit to die.
Key was studying to become a teacher and had recently given birth to her 9-month-old daughter Patrice, who is now 9 and lives with her grandmother in Arizona.
Two of the four people convicted in the shooting received life sentences.
A 29-year law enforcement veteran, Key supports the president's move to expand background checks for gun sales, increase funding for the treatment of mental illness and hire more investigators to enforce gun laws.
More than 100 homicides were recorded in Palm Beach County this past year, and many of the deaths were gun-related.
Key oversees major crime investigations for the West Palm Beach Police Department. Previously, he served as the department's supervisor for visiting-dignitary protection, which is when he met Frankel, a former mayor of West Palm Beach.
Before joining law enforcement, he played minor league baseball for four years. Key's ex-wife moved to Arizona when Lindsay was 3.
Frankel has sponsored 14 bills targeted at preventing gun violence, including a ban on the sale of high-capacity magazines and stricter regulations on firearm sales at gun shows.
She recently penned a letter urging Democrats in the Florida Legislature to block a bill allowing concealed-carry permit holders to take guns onto Florida's college campuses.
As for Key, he said his granddaughter will have to grow up without her mother because of gun violence, and he thinks something needs to be done to prevent more tragedies.
"She is 9 years old, and she can't remember what her mom looks like," he said.