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Letter to the editor

Between brothers: death, pain, anguish

Michael is dead. Antonio struggles with a shattered body and soul. And Willie? Antonio blames him.

By DEMORRIS A. LEE, Times Staff Writer
Published December 2, 2007

Antonio Marvell Scott lives his life in constant pain.

When he's awake, he's tormented by the injuries he suffered when gunmen shot into the bronze 2001 Intrepid he was riding in the afternoon of Oct. 8.

When he's asleep, the 24-year-old is haunted by the memory of his brother, Michael Marteoyo Scott, 23, who died in the shooting.

"It ain't supposed to be like this," Antonio said, his eyes beginning to fill with tears. "I watched him die. It ain't supposed to be like this."

Now Antonio is trying to piece together a life without his closest brother. It's a life made even more difficult because he is confined to a hospital bed, a recliner, a wheelchair or a walker and is visited by a home nurse three days a week.

He cries frequently. His mother, Terria Moore, 49, said he requires almost constant care.

"Sometimes he just cries for an hour straight," she said. "I can't go to the store, I can't go anywhere. I don't think I've even had time to grieve Michael's death. I haven't had time. We all probably need to talk to somebody."

The shooting was sparked by a running beef between the Scott brothers and group of young men in the N Betty Lane area, Antonio said. No one seems to know what caused the dispute.

His older brother, Willie Scott, was in the area earlier that day and had another run-in with the young men.

Later, Willie, 27, picked up his brothers in the bronze Intrepid. They stopped at the North Greenwood music shop on N Betty Lane to get a CD. Willie went into the store while his brothers waited in the car.

Just then, another car pulled up and shots were fired, Antonio said. Michael put the car in drive and headed north on N Betty Lane. He lost control of the car and hit a light pole.

"I was there," Antonio said last week as he sat in a recliner in his Largo apartment. "I couldn't do anything to help him and I was there."

He said he didn't know about the altercation earlier in the day.

"Willie didn't tell us about what happened earlier," Antonio said. "I kind of blame him."

He hasn't spoken to his brother since the shooting.

"I can't," he said, his eyes watering again. "I can't."

Gaylord Shaw, 19, and Allan Burney, 19, were arrested shortly afterward and charged with murder and attempted murder.

Burney is known for a DVD he helped produce called Da Hood Gone Wild, which illustrates the violence in Clearwater's North Greenwood area. Burney said he had nothing to do with the shooting.

Antonio Scott isn't the only member of his family shattered by the loss of his brother. His mother, who has six children and 37 grandchildren, said Michael was the center of the family. In 2006, for Thanksgiving, he cooked a ham and a turkey and spent the day with her. This year, she couldn't help watching the door.

"I knew he wasn't going to come through that door," Moore said. "But I had to have that feeling. I had to have that feeling that at any minute he was going to come through that door."

Moore said she knows the young men accused of killing her son. She gave Shaw rides. She went to school with Burney's father. Moore said she still can't believe the three-month feud resulted in so many lives being ruined.

"Not only is my boy dead, but Tony might never be the same," she said. "And then they have kids who will be affected. And I want the people who killed to pay, but their lives are ruined, too. And everybody's so young."

Now Antonio and his fiancee, Melanie Collins, are worried about how they are going to provide a merry Christmas for the five children they have raised together for five years. There's 10-year-old stepdaughter Jimmyiah Burney, who is Allan Burney's niece. Mercedes Crankfield, 8, is a stepdaughter and Quinisha Scott, 8, is brother Willie's child. There's also stepdaughter Jaquesha Scott, 7, and 2-year-old son Antonio Scott Jr.

"I just don't know what I'm going to do," Antonio said.

"Well, we'll make sure that each one of them gets a little something," Moore said soothingly, trying to stave off another emotional meltdown.

"But it wasn't supposed to be like this, Mama," Antonio said, his eyes tearing again. "My brother is supposed to be here with me. We loved our kids. We love them. It ain't supposed to be like this."

Demorris A. Lee can be reached at 445-4174 or dalee@sptimes.com.

[Last modified December 1, 2007, 20:58:15]