Terrance Kelly, Former LB At De La Salle High School
Bill Schenley
FROM: The San Francisco Chronicle ~
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2004/08/14/MNG518867V1.DTL
A football star at perennially unbeaten De La Salle High School was
shot to death in Richmond less than 48 hours before he was scheduled
to fly to the University of Oregon on an athletic scholarship.
Terrance Kelly, 18, a linebacker and running back who graduated this
spring, was shot several times in the chest Thursday night as he sat
in his car waiting for his 16-year-old stepbrother to leave his
girlfriend's house at the corner of Seventh Street and Nevin Avenue,
police and witnesses said.
"This is like a nightmare,'' his father, Landrin Kelly, said Friday.
"He was almost out of here. His plane ticket for college was on his
dresser. I can't believe my boy is dead."
Kelly pulled up outside the home at about 10:40 p.m. Thursday and used
his mobile phone to call younger stepbrother Brandon Young, who was
inside visiting Altanette Fletcher, police said. Then, witnesses heard
three or four shots in quick succession.
"When we came outside, we saw him in a pool of blood,'' said
Altanette, 16. "He tried to get out of the car, and he fell in the
street."
Young and Altanette tried to help, but Kelly was pronounced dead
minutes later. Witnesses saw several people running away right after
the shooting, but it's not clear whether they were involved in the
incident.
Police said they had no suspects, no motive and few leads about why
Kelly was killed.
"The investigation is still very young,'' said police Sgt. Enos
Johnson. "I've only heard good things about this young man. We don't
believe he is linked to any other trouble.''
The area is about a block away from where 19-year-old Rico Antoine
Paysinger was killed in April as part of an alleged gang dispute.
Nearby residents fear Kelly may have been killed in a case of mistaken
identity.
On Friday afternoon, about 100 people gathered at the crime scene for
an impromptu memorial. Kelly's dried blood was still on the street
nearby.
Kelly grew up about a mile away on Florida Avenue on the edge of the
city's Iron Triangle neighborhood. He was raised by his father and his
paternal grandmother. Last year, his father bought a home near Hilltop
Mall and moved there with his wife, her son Brandon, and Kelly.
"We wanted to move to a better place, safer than downtown Richmond,''
sobbed Landrin Kelly. "I tried all my life to protect my son from all
that. I thought he was safe."
In their new home, Landrin Kelly devoted an entire room to his son's
athletic achievements, covering the walls with newspaper clippings,
photographs and awards.
"Look around me -- this says it all,'' said Landrin Kelly, spreading
his arms. "I loved that boy more than any father loved his son. Words
can't say it all."
Kelly's grandmother, Bevelyn Kelly, collapsed after hearing of his
death and remained in the hospital Friday. Relatives said she was
recovering from a heart bypass about a month ago.
Friends said Kelly was a modest young man who didn't brag or call
attention to himself. They described him as always helping friends and
relatives. On Thursday, he was playing basketball in Hercules when his
brother called and asked for a ride.
"It was never about 'me' -- he wasn't that way,'' said uncle Billy
Dempsey. "He was unselfish in all parts of his life."
Kelly, one of four De La Salle 2004 graduates set to start at Oregon
on football scholarships this month, mostly played linebacker and
tight end. The Catholic, all-male Christian Brothers school in Concord
boasts a 151-game winning streak and is considered by many to be the
best prep football program in the nation.
"Terrance was nothing but a stellar young man,'' De La Salle's
principal, Brother Christopher Brady, said Friday. "His death last
night isn't anything any of us at the school would have thought about
or predicted. He was just a very easygoing young man who had a great
work ethic in the field and in the classroom."
De La Salle will honor Kelly with an event after classes start Aug.
23. The family said memorial services were pending.
The school has drawn national attention for its success. But other
tragedies have involved its students in the past 11 years.
Nathan Kirkham, a football player and standout musician at the school,
was killed by an alleged drunken driver in June of last year. Former
player Anthony Vontoure died two years ago at age 22 while in the
custody of Sacramento County sheriff's deputies. His older brother,
Christopher Vontoure, also a star athlete at De La Salle, drowned in a
rafting accident at age 16 in 1993.
Kelly spent three weeks this summer at Oregon working out with other
student athletes. He returned home earlier this week to spend some
time with his family before he was to begin official practice
Wednesday.
"We all mourn and send best wishes to his family, friends and
teammates," Oregon head coach Mike Bellotti said in a statement.
"Certainly it's very difficult to begin the season with this type of
thing, but the most important people are Terrance's family, friends
and his grandmother, who is in the hospital. Our prayers go out to
them in this time of loss."
Oregon recruited the versatile Kelly as a strong safety, and it is
likely he would have seen some playing time on defense and special
teams this fall.
"He could really play a lot of positions,'' said his cousin, Malik
Carr, who played football at Willamette University in Oregon. "I think
they saw TK as a run stopper who could also cover receivers over the
middle. Really, he could have done anything -- that young man was one
of the best athletes I've ever seen."
At De La Salle, Kelly starred on a defense that has produced numerous
college standouts. A predecessor there at linebacker, D.J. Williams,
was drafted in the first round by the Denver Broncos this spring after
playing at the University of Miami.
Kelly, who was often compared to Williams, made 122 tackles in his
senior year. But perhaps his best game came on offense when he filled
in as a running back on Nov. 28 in a 48-13 state semifinal win against
Monte Vista of Danville. Kelly scored three touchdowns and gained 142
yards on only eight carries.
"He could have been a great running back, but at De La Salle they
needed him on defense,'' said Gerald Montgomery, a longtime family
friend who also coached Kelly in youth football, baseball and
basketball.
Montgomery and several family friends said that even though Kelly
dreamed of playing professional football, he was better at baseball,
where he starred at third base on youth teams and summer leagues. When
he was 12, Kelly traveled to Japan with his baseball team.
"That young man was capable of anything,'' Montgomery said. "We've
lost a good man."
---
Then ...
Police investigating the widely publicized slaying of an East Bay high
school football star arrested an 18-year-old Richmond man Saturday
morning on suspicion of murder and conspiracy.
Larry Pratcher was taken into custody during an early-morning raid on
his home, said Sgt. Enos Johnson, a Richmond Police Department
spokesman.
Pratcher was being held on $2 million bail in connection with Thursday
night's shooting of Terrance Kelly, an 18-year-old standout linebacker
at De La Salle High School in Concord.
Pratcher's arrest came on the day Kelly was scheduled to leave to
Eugene, Ore., where he had a football scholarship to play for the
University of Oregon Ducks.
Kelly's slaying happened as he sat in a car waiting for a friend at
Seventh and Nevin streets in a high-crime area of Richmond known as
the Iron Triangle. Authorities said he was shot in the chest,
struggled out of the car and collapsed in the street. He was
pronounced dead at the scene.
Friends described Pratcher as an acquaintance and former basketball
teammate of Kelly's.
Homicide detectives and a SWAT team took Pratcher into custody at his
home on Pennsylvania Avenue shortly before 3 a.m. and booked him into
County Jail in Martinez, Johnson said.
Investigators declined to elaborate on Pratcher's alleged role in the
killing other than to say he was involved.
Johnson said investigators are still trying to determine a motive for
the killing and whether Kelly was targeted or shot at random.
Detectives are trying to identify three or four other people whom
witnesses reported seeing fleeing the scene. Police using a dog
located a rifle discarded in a yard near where Kelly was shot and are
testing it for fingerprints and to determine if it was used in the
shooting, Johnson said.
He credited community residents with providing police with tips that
led to Pratcher's arrest.
Johnson said while Richmond has dealt with its share of homicides in
the past, the death of such a promising young man shook the community.
"This tragedy has touched a lot of people's lives," said Johnson. "It
hurts us all."
Kelly played linebacker for the defending national champion De La
Salle Spartans, who have won 151 consecutive football games.
"He was a good kid, a clean kid," said his uncle, Billy Dempsey. "He
was taken care of so he wouldn't be into the wrong things, and he knew
that. That's why he worked so hard doing the things he did."
Kelly's father, Landrin Kelly, declined to comment Saturday.
Kelly's cousin John Dempsey said the family was relieved at the news
of an arrest in the case, but he said it did little to revive their
spirits.
"I'm happy the police are doing their job. I couldn't be more pleased
they are bringing closure to this, but it won't bring (Kelly) back,"
he said.
Kelly played alongside Pratcher on Richmond's Police Athletic League
16- and-under basketball team in 2002. The coach of that team, Gerald
Montgomery, was floored by the news that Pratcher was the suspect in
Kelly's death. He said he never noticed any problems with the two
players, who seemed to get along.
"I'm shocked -- I'm in awe. It must be jealousy," Montgomery said.
"They played on the same team -- they ate dinner together. It's the
only thing it can be, but I just can't believe it."
Altanette Fletcher, the girlfriend of Kelly's friend Brandon Young,
whom Kelly was picking up Thursday night, said Pratcher and Kelly were
friendly with each other and had talked in the past, though not
recently. She found it hard to believe Pratcher was involved and had
talked to him on the street just hours before the shooting.
"I hope they have the wrong person," said Altanette, 16. "(Kelly and
Pratcher) were cool with each other. I don't know that they ever had a
problem. "
Outside Altanette's home, where Kelly was shot, a small shrine has
appeared at the base of a light pole. Friends and mourners left
flowers and candles and wrote messages on the pole, saying goodbye to
a boy many knew simply as "TK."
"You're in a better place. We love you TK," wrote one.
Funeral arrangements have not been announced.