NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- When two people were slain at a west Nashville restaurant, a ripple effect of emotion for everyone involved was set into motion.

Video: Slain Man Had Upcoming Engagement, Pro Fishing Career

Police said Chris Caris and Joshua Cole were shot to death during a botched robbery by former employee Jason Bobo. Bobo was a former employee who was fired for stealing.

Both men’s deaths were tragedies, but for Caris, his death may have come just as a big chapter of his life was about to begin.

Channel 4’s Rudy Kalis, a friend of Caris’, spoke with his girlfriend, Marianne Purcell.

“I’m sad and I’m lonely, and everybody hurts and everybody loved Chris, and everybody gets to go home to their family. Chris was my home,” she said.

Kalis said he and his family had gotten to know Caris during frequent trips to Bellacino’s and had become friends.

According to Kalis, Caris called Purcell the day he was slain to tell her that he had found the perfect engagement ring that they had been looking for and wanted to order it.

“We were going to get it, and we were going to order it when he got home. I just didn’t want to do it without him. He said, ‘Let’s do it today.’ And I said, ‘OK. I’ll wait until you get home,’” she said.

She said even their pets could feel the sadness of losing Caris.

“The dogs can feel it, and it saddens me because every morning, he played with them. Every afternoon, he played with them and every evening he played with them. He loved them so much. Those were his boys,” she said.

Caris also loved fishing and had been trying to make it as a professional fisherman for years. Purcell said she had helped him create a resume and that also on the day he was slain, he got an important phone message from a friend.

“He was going to be presented with a check and a contract on Monday for $40,000. … So, that week, we we’re going to be engaged. … We were supposed to pick up his boat the following Friday. So, that was going to be, literally, the best week of our lives,” she said.

Caris was memorialized this past weekend in his hometown of Fremont, Mich. Purcell said a local service for friends her was also planned in the future.

Purcell said she was thankful for the supportive e-mails she has received. She said she is confused, numb but not angry with God.

She said that she was only angry with the man who had interrupted God’s plan.