It was standing room only at the Westview Bible Church in Pierrefonds on Saturday, as nearly 1000 people were on hand for the funeral service for a slain 17-year-old boy.
“He was an absolutely lovely young man,” said Jennifer Wooley, a librarian at Lakeside Academy, where Darius Brown attended high school up until his death. “As a school we’re very much a family, and we’re a family with a broken heart. We’re shattered."
Brown was killed on Nov. 17 in Cote-St-Luc in an incident police first described as a robbery gone wrong, with Brown as the assailant. That story quickly changed, and another 17-year-old boy was arrested and charged with second degree murder in the death.
At his funeral, friends and family were remembering Brown as a truly upstanding young man.
“It’s losing your brother and it’s very hurtful. I was quite devastated when I found out. It hurts a lot,” said friend Dante Wade. “He was a good gentleman. Everywhere I brought him, he introduced himself very kindly. He was a very good kid.”
A basketball tournament in Brown's honour will be held on Dec. 17 at the Westhaven Community Centre, where Brown played and had recently started coaching younger children.