MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Close friends say Derrius Davis, the man killed in a shooting in Frayser on Sunday, worked at the jail as an officer, a position he took to be a positive influence in the community.
Now, they have a lot of questions about what happened at a Frayser home this weekend. Timothy Moore, a friend of Davis for 16 years, says he wants answers.
“A lot of people have been asking how am I doing? I’m not doing well. I lost one of my best friends,” Moore said.
Moore said it’s hard to believe Derrius Dewayne Davis II, or “Jump” as those closest to him knew him, is gone. Police say he was shot and killed Sunday morning at a home on William Tell Drive in Frayser.
Neighbors say it may have stemmed from his involvement with a woman but friends find that account hard to believe.
“I’ve seen him be an upstanding gentleman. So I want a full investigation. I want a full detailed report of that night and the weeks around it,” Moore said.
As the investigation into his death unfolds, Moore reflects on his friend’s life saying Davis was not only a father but worked to be a positive Black male influence to others through his job at the jail.
“He went in there directly to confront that systematic racism,” Moore said. “He went in there directly to be a person of change to support and protect Black folks. If you know jump that was his heart. He never went anywhere without a smile.”
So, Moore will think of that smile in the difficult days ahead and all the good moments they shared that have now become memories.
“To know him was to love him is an understatement,” Moore said. “I fully expect even in the middle of a pandemic it’ll be a full room six feet apart lined down the block because he affected so many people.”