Nearly nine months after DeAngelo Gant Brown was murdered, a group of friends and family gathered to demand justice.
“It’s killing us,” said his mother, Melissa Gant. “We think about him every day, and it hurts so bad. All I want is justice, and I’m going to have that for my son.”
At a rally held Saturday morning in front of the Yazoo City Police Department, Rucker said she is frustrated by the lack of communication with investigators.
“I want to see justice served for my son,” Gant said. “The Yazoo City Police Department needs to stand up and let me know what’s going on. I call and leave my name, and leave messages, and I never hear anything. No one calls me back.”
Sir Johnathan Rucker, who organized the rally, said that those who are mourning Brown’s loss must keep attention on the case.
Brown, 24, was found murdered in the movie theater parking lot in Yazoo City in February.
“Our message is that we will not stand by and let this case go unnoticed,” Rucker said. “We have to bring attention to this.”
Rucker said that if local investigators have reached a point where they aren’t finding any new leads, the case should be turned over to state investigators.
“They need to turn over the evidence to the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation because, truth be told, we’re not seeing any results from them,” Rucker said. “None at all. We don’t want them handling this case anymore.”
Felicia Davis, Brown’s stepmother, agreed.
“We want the Yazoo City Police Department to turn over whatever evidence they have in this case to the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation,” Davis said. “It has been months, and they don’t seem to be doing anything with the information that they have.”
Rucker said he fears that problems within the local police department may cost valuable time in the investigation. Former Police Chief Jeff Curtis recently resigned, and other officers have left.
“The Bible says that a house divided cannot stand,” Rucker said. “They’re already divided down here, but we have to stand together for this young man who did so much for so many.”
Gant began to cry as she thanked those who attended the rally.
“Thank you for standing with me because if we don’t do this, no one else will,” she said. “I have gone through so much pain and suffering and a lot of crying.”
Davis said she and Brown’s father, Willie Davis, feel the same way.
“He was taken from us too soon,” she said. “We are suffering.”
Gant said her son was well known in the community as a kind person with a bright future ahead of him. She hopes that someone will come forward with information to help solve the case.
“My son didn’t bother anyone,” Gant said. “He cared for everyone, and would do anything for anyone. He helped anyone that needed it. I don’t understand why someone had to kill him. It’s not right.”
