When Patricia Brown remembers her son Desmand, the one thing that stands out is his smile.
“He was always smiling,” she said. “He was like a free spirit. He was always making somebody laugh and he’d talk to you. He did not meet a stranger; he would talk to anybody. He will make you laugh.
“He was friendly to people; he didn’t have any enemies,” she said.
Desmand Brown was killed sometime after midnight on June 30 during a shooting in Community Parks, a public housing complex in the Burglund area of McComb. No arrests have been made, and the shooting remains under investigation.
McComb police detective Shannon Sullivan said authorities continue their search for answers as they interview people who were in the area at the time of the shooting in an effort to determine what happened.
“We’re following every possible lead necessary to get the facts in the case,” Sullivan said.
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Patricia Brown said her son had had run-ins with police in the past. He recently was indicted by a Pike County grand jury for burglary. But, she said, “He was not a violent person.”
“He just enjoyed life and liked to have fun,” she said, “He had girlfriends; everyone I met at his funeral said, ‘I’m Des’ girlfriend.’ He had a lot of friends.”
Patricia Brown said Desmand was living with her at the time of the shooting, adding that her family had moved from a house on North Magnolia Street just before the shooting.
But they had friends and relatives who lived in Community Parks.
“People in Community Parks know me. They know me as ‘Miss Neicy,’ ” she said, adding that she would go to the area to visit and play cards with friends and family.
On the day of the shooting, Patricia Brown said Desmand stopped by his sister’s house to eat with her and his sister.
“One of his friends brought him over there,” Patricia recalled. “He said, ‘My friend’s sitting in a car, I’ve got to go.’ That’s the last time I saw him.”
After leaving his sister’s house, Patricia said her son went to a relative’s house in Summit and later caught a ride with someone, ending up in Community Parks.
“To my understanding, he got in a car with a friend,” Ms. Brown said, adding that he reportedly told the people at his relative’s house that he would return.
“He left their house walking, and a guy came and picked him up and they ended up in community park,” Ms. Brown said. “The person who picked him up was someone he knew.”
Since her son’s death, Ms. Brown said she has heard many different stories of what happened.
The first story, she said, involved an argument in Community Parks in which a man pulled a gun and started shooting.
“So he may have been in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
One of the problems with solving the case, police said, is the reluctance of Community Parks residents to talk about the shooting or provide information that might identify the shooter.
“I would like for them to stand up and say who did this,” Ms. Brown said. “Come forward. They don’t have to come to me. They can go to the police station or they can meet me at my house.
“I would do it for their son, their child,” she said. “I might not live in the community, but I have feelings for my son.”
As long as people stay quiet about the shooting, the violence in Community Parks will continue, Ms. Brown believes.
“They may be scared, but as long as (criminals) know they’re scared … they’re going to keep coming back, and how would they want their kids living like that?” she asked.
She said the family is trying to recover from the shock of their loss and spending time with their pastor.
“I know the police department’s doing the best they can, especially when people won’t talk,” Ms. Brown said. “People said he was running away from the shooting that night — he was trying to get away.”
She said there is one person who was with her son who she would like to talk to.
“They said a boy was with him when he died; was holding him. I want to thank him,” she said. “If there’s any way that I can get in touch with him, if there’s any way he can get in contact with me, I’d like to thank him personally, because they say he stayed with Desmand until he passed.
“Some people said Desmand was in a gang,” she said. “I do not know that. I don’t think he was in a gang. He hung around people who were in gangs, but as far as I know, he wasn’t.”
Brown’s death is the latest incident affecting Community Parks, which has been the source of many complaints to police about alleged illegal activity over the years.
At a May 12 meeting of the McComb selectmen, Mayor Zach Patterson cited the police reports and traffic problems in the area, calling the situation in Community Parks “unacceptable.”
Patterson told selectmen he wants to clean up Community Parks. He instructed then-acting police chief Mark Anderson to develop a plan to increase police presence in the area and crack down on illegal activity.
Former acting chief Toby Jones and acting chief Greg Martin said officers have been more visible in the area.
Jones said the increased police presence was in place before the shooting occurred. He said extra patrols had been in the area for some time, and an officer was at the police substation near the housing complex on the night of the shooting.
Martin said more patrols have been added since Brown’s death, and police have handled special details in the area.
“We have brought extra officers out and we’re using the substation more,” Martin said.
Patterson, who is out of town, referred questions about other programs in Community Parks to McComb Community Relations and Tourism director Tasha Dillon.
Dillon said a group of church pastors and concerned citizens in the area are working to try and help improve the area.
She said the group recently held a prayer walk and rally in the community and look to continue those activities to encourage community residents to get involved.
Dillon said the pastors are available to talk with residents about the shooting or just talk with them about the stress of living in the area.
“Everyone who can is willing to help as much as possible,” she said.
Minister Dwight Martin of the 24th St. Church of Christ said the march and prayer vigil are part of a larger effort to show the McComb community’s support for the residents in Community Parks who are trying to improve their neighborhood.
He said local pastors want to work with residents to help them form a neighborhood association so apartment residents can have a say in their community, work together to reduce the violence and change the negative perception that others have of Community Parks.
Dwight Martin said the program has the support of Alpha Management of Jackson, which manages the housing complex.
“It’s incumbent upon (the community) to make sure we can show support and help those persons who want to take charge (of changing their neighborhood),” he said. “We need to have the courage to say to them, ‘You’re not alone,’ and they should not tolerate bad behavior in their community. We need to show that we are one city, that they are not isolated.”
