close
close
awsum

Delaware family mourns second sibling killed by gun violence

Neon
Delaware family mourns second sibling killed by gun violence

play

Dahmiere Moody became the oldest of his siblings by a bullet after his brother was shot to death during a botched robbery in Wilmington in 2015.

Moody worked hard to ensure that his remaining brothers and sisters, all from different mothers, stayed in touch with each other. He would celebrate birthdays with them whenever he could. Go to family graduations. He also enjoyed the holiday with those who could.

“We lost our first sibling in 2015, and I think that really put pressure on him to make sure everyone stayed together a little bit more,” Taylor Thompson said of his brother Moody.

Another bullet made Thompson the eldest of the remaining siblings. On October 3, Moody, 29, was shot and killed in Wilmington’s Eastlake neighborhood.

“I’m the oldest sibling now,” Thompson said. prepared for his brother’s services this Saturday26 October. “Now I have to be the uniter, the provider, and the protector of my younger siblings.”

Moody is the last person shot and killed in Delaware so far in 2024; This year, there continues to be a decrease in the number of people injured as a result of armed attacks compared to previous years. However, there has been a slight increase in the number of deaths from gun-related injuries this year.

From Jan. 1 to Oct. 24, there was a 36.6% drop in the number of people shot in Delaware, which had the most shootings in 2020. Since Delaware’s 2021 homicide record, the first 298 days of the year have seen a 43% decrease in the number of people killed by gun violence, while the last three years have seen a 31% increase in the number of fatal shootings.

Gun violence in Delaware also affected Moody, his sister told Delaware Online/The News Journal.

“Literally every month she loses a friend, a cousin, or someone very close to her,” Thompson said. “And it was obvious that he was suffering from it. It created a depression within him that could heal him no matter what.”

While most of the shootings occurred in Wilmington, the state’s largest city, Thompson said gun violence is an unchecked Delaware problem.

“I don’t want to be a part of this community anymore,” he said, adding that he was considering leaving the state. “I don’t want to be part of the state anymore. The state has taken a lot from me.”

Dahmiere ‘Shame on you’ Moody

Although Moody faced several challenges, including growing up in the foster care system, he did not let that hold him back, according to those who knew him.

Moody wrestled and played football at Howard Technology High School, his sister said. He also enjoyed video games, music, action movies, and comedy.

But Thompson said his family is his biggest interest.

For example, the youngest of the siblings was graduating from high school in June.

“And Miere was the one who reached out to all the brothers to have us attend this graduation ceremony,” he said, adding that he was the person the other brothers contacted when something was needed.

“Whatever none of us had, our brother was able to give us,” he said.

This included finding a way to pay her electric bill after her power was cut off earlier this year.

friendship, love, potential

Moody was quiet at first, some who knew him said. However, when it was turned on, it illuminated the room it was in.

“He was just like a big, shining light,” said Eric Pichalski, who met Moody through Thompson.

Pichalski, volunteer coordinator for Habitat for Humanity in New Castle County, said Moody did his best for everyone he knew, especially his family.

“What Miere offered to the world was the love and friendship of other people,” Pichalski said. “And I want to continue that in his honor.”

Aging out of the foster care system, Moody was looking for something to do and went to Bright Spot Farms, a nonprofit urban farm operated by West End Neighborhood House. That’s where he met Mike McCafferty, then an urban farm project manager.

More: Bright hopes grow in Wilmington

Bright Spot had a greenhouse and field where participants (all young adults who had aged out of the foster care system) would grow poinsettias, annuals, and vegetables to sell.

Moody was involved in all of this, McCafferty said.

“He was a pretty good employee,” McCafferty said. “He was one of those kids who absorbed what he was learning.”

McCafferty believed Moody would have been better off if he had been able to attend college.

“He was so smart,” he said.

McCafferty was saddened to learn of Moodys’ death; This was not just because his life was taken, but because his potential was destroyed.

“There are some kids where you think, ‘Okay. You’re going to make it even though life hasn’t been very helpful to you from the beginning,'” he said. “I really thought he was very smart. Not only street smart, but a smart kid who could handle life.”

Carrying a gun after violence

Moody’s oldest sibling, Quiaire Nesmith, was shot on June 23, 2015. He died five days later.

More: 24-year-old man jailed for Wilmington murder

The fatal shooting worried Moody so much that shortly thereafter, Thompson said he bought a gun.

“He always traveled with protection,” he said. “Why? Because we lost our brother in 2015.”

He added that Moody remained a few blocks from where his brothers were shot in 2015.

His decision to carry a gun would compound his problems when he ran into legal trouble a few years later; The only criminal incident to which he was involved was found during searches of the Delaware Supreme Court and the Court of Common Pleas.

After getting into a fight with his girlfriend, whose home police had given him a ride to in the early hours of June 4, 2018, Moody then went to her home, kicked in the front door and threw rocks at the front window.

He then attacked a woman inside the house. Court records obtained by Delaware Online/The News Journal redacted the victim’s identity.

Moody fled the scene, but his vehicle was searched by police that morning and a gun hidden in his car was found, according to court documents. The gun was not used in the attack, but one of the nine charges against him was carrying a concealed deadly weapon.

Thompson, who said Moody never gave details of the incident, did not excuse his brother’s actions, other than saying he understood why he was carrying a gun.

“I 100% understand why he never wanted to be unarmed,” he said. “Because when you live in a situation like this, you don’t want to be without it.”

Moody pleaded guilty to three felonies and was sentenced to five years in prison plus probation. Carrying a concealed deadly weapon was one of the charges dropped in exchange for his plea.

Post

Wilmington police have said little about the shooting, other than that Moody was fatally wounded Oct. 3 in the 100 block of W. 30th St. around 7:20 p.m. Police ask anyone with information to contact Detective James Rook at ( 302) 576-3621.

Describing that night from the street, Thompson said he was in front of his brother’s girlfriend’s house when someone walked up to him and shot him in the stomach: “We’re all confused and angry because we’re not doing this.” I don’t have answers.”

More: 3 shootings, 1 fatal, in separate shootings in Wilmington, less than 12 hours apart

Emotions and curiosity about what happened to the gunman are other aspects of gun violence that only those involved can understand, Pichalski said. Many of the victims’ families struggle with anger and a desire to wander the streets looking for the killer.

“You’re asking for clarification of something that unfortunately will not happen,” he said. “That’s what’s so unfortunate. It happens so quickly, but everything that happens afterwards is sometimes much more tiring than the initial event.”

Send tips or story ideas to Esteban Parra at (302) 324-2299 or [email protected].

Related Posts