Floyd vivia em Minneapolis há vários anos, desde que se mudara de Houston, sua cidade natal no Texas.
Ele trabalhava como segurança em estabelecimentos da cidade, mas, como aconteceu com milhões de norte-americanos, foi demitido em meio à pandemia do novo coronavírus.
Floyd era um cliente regular da Cup Foods.
George Floyd tinha 46 anos e era pai de uma menina de 6
Floyd era conhecido como alguém amigável e gentil, que nunca causava problemas, disse o dono da loja, Mike Abumayyaleh, em entrevista à emissora NBC.
Floyd was born on October 14, 1973 in Fayetteville, North Carolina to George Perry and Larcenia “Cissy” Jones Floyd.[5][6] He had four siblings.[7][8][9]
Floyd’s parents separated and, when he was two, his mother moved with the children to the Cuney Homes public housing,[10][11][12] known as Bricks, in Houston’s Third Ward, a historic black neighborhood and one of the poorest areas of the city.[5][6][10] Floyd was called Perry as a child, but also Big Floyd: being over six feet tall in middle school, he saw sports as a vehicle for improving his life.[10]
At Yates High School, Floyd played on the basketball team as a power forward, and as tight end on the football team, helping lead them to the Texas state championships in 1992; he graduated in 1993.[5][10][11] He made the varsity football team as a ninth grader; in tenth grade he was also co-captain of the basketball team.[8]
The first of his siblings to go to college, Floyd attended South Florida Community College for two years on a football scholarship, and also played on the basketball team.[10][13][14] He transferred to Texas A&M University–Kingsville in 1995, where he also played basketball before dropping out.[15] Friends and family called him Perry, and characterized him as a “gentle giant.”[16][17] He was 6 feet 4 inches (193 cm) tall and weighed 223 pounds (101 kg).[18]