Balloon release, moment of silence held for man killed by U.S. marshals

LORAIN — A sea of black and red balloons floated up from the basketball courts at Sgt. Samuel L. Felton Jr. Central Park. In the midst of the eighth annual Marquis McCall Stop the Violence basketball tournament, organizers held a moment of silence and balloon release for a life lost this spring. Derrick Smith, 34, was shot and killed April 18 by members of the U.S. Marshals Violent Fugitive Task Force during a warrant service. "Sometimes it's not that they're taken out (in) violence when the authority (is) doing the violence," basketball tournament co-organizer Tabatha Watson-Brown said. "For those of you who've lost loved ones, when we let the balloons up if you want to call out their names as well, do that. Because we've all lost someone to violence." Smith's mother, Ericka Smith, of Columbus, stood in the center of the basketball court alongside Watson-Brown and Jaskie Lewis, whose son, Marquis McCall, 18, was killed in a drive-by shooting in 2009. Lewis organized the annual basketball tournament in her son's memory. "The purpose of these tournaments is to stop the violence," Watson-Brown said. "We need to come together as a community, join together ... and put that dumb stuff aside and teach these young kids they don't need to put their hands up or pull a weapon out in order to get a situation taken care of. Let God handle it." On a count of three, Smith's family and friends released balloons in his honor, the wind catching them sideways before taking them up and away from the court. After the balloon release, Ericka Smith and her sister, Regina Whitfield, said his family, friends and community loved Derrick Smith. He was a familiar face at the corner store near his home and the Marathon gas station on Broadway. Derrick Smith grew up with Lewis' kids and attended Admiral King High School. Ericka Smith said her son struggled with his mental health. He was diagnosed with schizophrenia at 16 years old, she said, and the family had spent the past several years trying to get him help. But through his struggles, Ericka Smith and Whitfield said Derrick Smith was well known in his community, often working at the stores he frequented. He loved listening to music and mostly kept to himself, Ericka Smith said. "He was loved," Whitfield said. "He liked to make people laugh, he was just Derrick. … He had a joke for everybody." Smith and Whitfield implored people, including law enforcement, to be aware of those with mental illness and take training to deal with those in crisis. "Mental health awareness, it means something. It's very important," Smith said. "He struggled with that on a daily basis." This year's basketball tournament winners in the youth division were the Lil Snap team; in the women's division the Hair Love Beauty salon team; and in the men's division, the Steel City Bar team. This year's tournament sponsors include Future Generations, Gonzalez Store, Crowned Studio, UnK's Bar, Moe's OneWireless, Steel City Bar, Broadway Drive-thru, Mayor Jack Bradley, Steel City Youth Football League, Tidy it Up Cleaning, Bre's Unique Hair, Hair Love Beauty Salon, Back to the Moon Foundation, Pathway Enrichment Center, BeeValue, Therapeutic Solutions, Oberlin Weekday Community Meals and Lake Screen Printing. Smith's death remains under investigation by the Elyria, Lorain and Amherst police departments. Body camera footage released by U.S. Marshals Service after Smith's death showed him refusing to come out of a second-floor bedroom and then appearing to attack officers before he was shot and killed. The U.S. Marshals Service has not released the names of the officers involved. Their faces were redacted in the released footage. Contact Carissa Woytach at (440) 329-7245 or cwoytach@chroniclet.com.