The weapon was a .38 caliber Smith & Wesson revolver. It was an unregistered firearm. Gaye had reportedly requested the gun for his own protection—he was convinced, in the fog of his paranoia, that people were coming to kill him. He wanted a gun in the house. But rather than keeping it for himself, he gave it to his father.
By some accounts, the gun was presented as a Christmas gift—given to Gay Sr. on Christmas Day, 1983. Gay Sr. later said he kept the gun because it made him feel protected.
Marvin Gaye, who had spent his childhood being beaten by his father, had given his father a loaded handgun.
Four months later, Gay Sr. would use it.
—
PART ELEVEN: THE LAST DAYS
The final days of Marvin Gaye’s life were marked by a darkness that those who witnessed them have struggled to fully convey.
On March 31, 1984—a Saturday, the day before Gaye’s 44th birthday—there was an argument at the house. Gay Sr. and Alberta were fighting over a missing insurance document. Marvin intervened. The confrontation was loud and tense, but there was no physical violence.
The next day, Sunday, April 1, 1984, Marvin Gaye spent the morning in his bedroom.
His brother Frankie was at the house. Alberta was in the living room. Gay Sr. was moving through the house.
At approximately 12:30 p.m., another argument between Gay Sr. and Alberta erupted—again, seemingly over the insurance document from the previous day, or over other household frictions that had been building for weeks.