Feb. 19: Demond Reed: Grief for yet another young life lost

Irene Westbrook had trouble taking it in: a 4-year-old boy lying in a small white casket at Shiloh Temple International Ministries in north Minneapolis. The 29-year-old Minneapolis woman returned to the casket once, then again, kneeling before it and weeping.

Seeing Demond Reed's small, battered body at his funeral Monday night prompted her to make a promise to herself: Her son will never end up like that.

"It's been four years since I saw my baby," she said, referring to her 7-year-old son, from whom she has been separated for some time. "It's time for me to wake up and do better."

Westbrook was among hundreds of people gathered at the church. Most did not know Demond, who was beaten to death this month in a north Minneapolis duplex, where he had been staying with his jailed father's cousin.

But they came to show their support for Demond's grieving relatives, to mourn a life lost so young and to help their community work past yet another violent death.

The wake that preceded the funeral was solemn and quiet but for soft music and the muffled chorus of a choir practicing in a nearby room.

One by one, mourners approached the casket, which was open.

Demond's paternal grandfather, Tony Ishmon, 39, entered the church with wet eyes. He said he was still shocked by his only grandson's death and shook his head. "It just doesn't seem real," he said. "I won't hear no more 'Papas.'"

Demond was his "traveling buddy" and a good, little "innocent kid," Ishmon said.

Before entering the sanctuary, he grasped the hands of V.J. Smith, president of MAD DADS, a group of north Minneapolis fathers that works to end violence.

The two men whispered a prayer. Smith then escorted Ishmon into the sanctuary, and when the sight of his grandson's body was too much, shepherded him out.

The service was the first of two for Demond. Another will follow in his native Chicago, where he will be buried.

Toniyetta Davis, 16, ticked off the names: Brian Cole, Marcus White and Charez Jones. She said she goes to the funerals to show that "the community is here."

"It's not just going in one ear and out the other," she said. "We care."

Found in a closet

Demond's father's 37-year-old cousin, Carla Poole, has been charged in his fatal beating during which she allegedly ordered her 4- and 6-year-old sons to hold down Demond's arms.

Police found the boy's body -- bruised, bitten and broken -- double-bagged in a closet Feb. 10.

The boy was reported missing Feb. 6. Interviews and searches yielded little until Poole's 11-year-old daughter told police that she had witnessed the beating, which was prompted by Demond soiling his pants.

She told police that it looked like Demond's face was pushed in and his body, left on a bed for two days, was "frozen."

Poole first appeared in court last week and is being held in lieu of $1 million bail. Her children are in protective custody.

Celebration of life

The pastors who spoke Monday night challenged the congregation to keep faith despite the gruesome nature of the crime.

In his eulogy, youth pastor Broderick Austin pointed to "a sick society" as the culprit -- "an age when drugs, gun violence, domestic abuse, suicide and all manner of social injustice are seen as common as the rising sun.

"This could have easily been my son or your son," he said. "He's a son of this community."

Jenna Ross • 612-673-7168