Just weeks after he returned to Minneapolis from Mississippi, Tommy Bardney was making good on his promise to spend more time with his family, said his wife, Rosie.

The two of them were talking in a van parked outside their house in the 1000 block of Humboldt Avenue N. on Tuesday afternoon when a white SUV with tinted windows pulled up alongside them.

"I heard him saying that he apologized and he loved me, and he turned the radio down and he said, 'Did you hear me?' I never got a chance to respond to him, it happened so fast," Rosie Bardney said.

Someone in the SUV fired one shot through the driver's side window, killing Bardney.

His 15-year-old son ran to his dad's side and began wailing.

"Dad, Dad! Oh man, Dad. Don't go!" he screamed, according to Rosie.

Bardney, 34, had seven children with Rosie. The two of them had been together for nearly 20 years; they were married four years ago.

Constance Thomas, Bardney's sister-in-law, said she was looking forward to spending time with Bardney now that he had returned to Minneapolis. "I just talked to him on Facebook," she said. "We were supposed to meet up and have fun, just kick it like the old times. I don't understand why they would do this, take him away from all of his kids," she said.

The SUV might have been a Yukon or Suburban, according to witnesses. The case remains under investigation.

Tommy Bardney had convictions for burglary and domestic assault that sent him to state prison in 2008. He was in and out of state prisons until early 2012. His return to Minneapolis was supposed to be a fresh start, said his wife.

"Basically, he was trying to get himself together. He always made people glad. He was cool with everybody," she said.

"He wasn't no drug dealer," his wife said. "He did what he did to get by and take care of his family. [His killer or killers] stalked him and then assassinated him."

Matt McKinney • 612-217-1747