Robert Jacobson was a devoted father who raised six children on his own after he and his wife split.

He was hard-working, selfless and loved birds and the Dallas Cowboys, according to four of his children.

He didn’t have enemies, he didn’t do anyone wrong and he didn’t deserve to die, his children said. 

Juston and Jason Haley and Chanel and Steven Jacobson spoke at a news conference at Glendale Police Department about the death of their father.

Jacobson, 57, was shot at about 9 p.m. July 7 as he cleaned his car at a Weiss Guys Express Car Wash on 59th Avenue near Missouri Avenue.

The four family members said coming forward was something their father would have wanted to do. As one last gift for him, they believed it was necessary to get the word out to try to find Jacobson’s killer.  

“He always had great fortitude. Regardless what situation we were in … money or not … on the streets, off the streets, it didn’t matter,” Chanel Jacobson said. 

‘Who would do this?’

Juston Haley said the siblings are trying to keep each other’s spirits up, leaning on the strength their father taught them in their upbringing in Maryvale.   

Juston Haley said that his father’s sense of humor was his greatest attribute and that he had passed that down to all of his children. He also described his father spending time playing basketball and football with them when they were little. 

“He didn’t have much, but he would definitely help you out with whatever he could,” Jason Haley said.

Jason Haley has fond memories of Jacobson’s loving nature and interactions with his grandchildren.

“I was at my house, and I got the call. You literally just drop everything because you don’t quite understand what happened. And why and … I don’t know if I can explain my emotions, how I felt. But I know I got from my house to my dad’s house … I needed to be there,” Jason Haley said as he recalled the day his father died. 

Chanel Jacobson, the youngest and only female of the six children, said that she draws on the strength her father taught her.

“It’s just so inhumane. Who would do this? This is somebody so innocent. I’m still dumbfounded over this, very heartbroken,” Chanel Jacobson said as she choked up.

Several of the children mentioned having difficulty sleeping, eating and coping in the aftermath of their father’s death. 

“I just don’t understand how the neighborhood I grew up in became so unsafe that somebody can’t wash their car … That’s all he was doing, washing his car,” Juston Haley said. 

Since the death, Jacobson’s children have had to cope with telling other family members about the shooting and don’t quite know how to break the news to their own kids. 

“I get questions from my nieces. They’re wanting answers, and they’re answers I can’t give them and (am) not ready to give them. And they won’t understand,” Steven Jacobson said. 

The family is asking for people with information about their father’s death to come forward so some kind of justice can be served. 

“It’s a cowardly act of violence. Didn’t even give him a chance to defend himself,” Juston Haley said. 

“No other family should have to have deal with this, with what we’re feeling. No one should have to go through the pain we’re feeling. Just please, any kind of information would help,” Steven Jacobson said.

Acura was running when Jacobson’s body was found

Police have few leads at the moment.

According to Officer Tiffany Smith, Glendale police responded to a call at a car wash near 59th and Missouri avenues just after midnight on July 8.

Smith said a couple of men nearby were having trouble with their car and approached a gray Acura in a vacuum stall to ask that driver to help them push their car into the car wash.

The Acura was running at the time, and one of the doors was open, Smith said.

When the two men asked for help, they realized the male driver, Jacobson, was not responding, and they called 911, Smith said.

Investigators determined that Jacobson was shot and killed sometime around 9 p.m.

“It’s a senseless act of violence,” Smith said. 

Smith said that Jacobson habitually cleaned his car on Friday nights. Police said he was actively cleaning the interior of his car at the time of his death. Nothing was taken from the vehicle, according to police.   

Investigators planned to canvass the car wash between 9 p.m. and midnight Friday to pass out fliers of showing photos of Jacobson and his car to try to gather more information. 

Smith said investigators will be looking for people who may have seen Jacobson’s car that night, heard a gunshot or saw anything in that area around that time to come forward and assist in the investigation. 

If anyone has information, call 480-WITNESS.  

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