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Dad of Dayton shooting victim doing his part to share son's love of hugging

Mike Turner began hugging others after his son, Logan Turner, was one of the nine people killed Aug. 4 in Dayton, Ohio. 

WASHINGTON TOWNSHIP, Ohio — It's a small gesture, written on a napkin at a popular restaurant. But it carries a huge ask connected to one of the victims of the Dayton shooting in the Oregon District.

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The note, left by Logan Turner's dad, asks people to hug each other.

Logan Turner, 30, of Springboro, was one of the nine people shot and killed by a gunman just outside Ned Peppers bar the morning of Aug. 4. At least 26 others were injured either by bullets or in the stampede that erupted at the sound of the gunfire. Dayton police shot and killed the gunman less than a minute after he opened fire.

Turner had just celebrated his 30th birthday that week and was out with friends in the district when he was gunned down.

Mike Turner began practicing the message well before he spread it on the napkin. The hugging crusade began at a car wash in Centerville.

"I just started hugging people," he told News Center 7's Monica Castro on Friday night. "The first seven, eight people I hugged, three of them knew Logan."

That experience begat the napkin note at a Cracker Barrel, which begat his leaving notes everywhere he goes.

"I want everybody to do it," he said, even taking the opportunity to hug Castro.

"It's an emotional moment. I can’t tell you how good it makes me feel," he said.