All he wanted was to catch up to dad. Then tragedy struck.

The family minivan needed gas, so Bobby Fulsom pulled into a convenience store parking lot on Wednesday night and told his son Benjamin to stay put.

Benjamin, 3, was drinking his soda and seemed content, his father said. Benjamin was there with his little brother and sister.

But he was used to unbuckling his car seat and going along with his dad, so at some point after Fulsom walked in to the Jump Start at 1535 E. Pawnee just after 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Benjamin climbed out of his car seat, crawled to the front seat, got out and darted toward the front door of the store.

That’s when a 32-year-old woman driving a pickup struck Benjamin as she pulled into the convenience store parking lot from Victoria Street, police said. Benjamin died at the scene in what police are describing as a tragic accident.

“I didn’t know he had followed me,” Fulsom said Thursday. “I was inside the store when it happened.”

On Thursday, Benjamin’s parents were struggling to cope.

“He was very energetic – a very smart 3-year-old,” Shayla Nalley said of her son. “He was very lovable. He basically loved everybody.”

He couldn’t talk, she said, though no one seemed to know why. But he understood what others said, and family members were able to decipher his grunts well enough to recognize what he meant.

The family had installed locks on the minivan’s back doors because Benjamin had figured out how to get the doors open. But they couldn’t do that to the front doors.

Benjamin started preschool at Colvin Elementary School last fall and loved it, his parents said.

“He hated missing school,” Nalley said. “I had to keep him home because he was sick” on Wednesday.

Benjamin loved school so much “he enjoyed getting dressed in his school clothes,” Fulsom said, his voice a hoarse whisper.

Nalley said she bears no ill feelings for the driver of the truck that hit her son, who would have turned 4 in April.

“Accidents happen,” she said. “He just wasn’t required (to be) here no more – God needed him, I guess.”

Benjamin has five siblings ranging in age from 10 months to 10 years. A GoFundMe account has been established to help the family pay for his funeral expenses.

Employees at the Jump Start were taking Benjamin’s death hard, too.

“I’ve got lots of our workers here traumatized by it,” store manager Daylan Moreland said Thursday.

Donations to help Benjamin’s family also are being accepted at the store.

This story was originally published January 26, 2017 at 7:26 PM with the headline "All he wanted was to catch up to dad. Then tragedy struck.."