Ville Platte teen’s life ended in a New Orleans jail cell

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Tina Thomas just wanted to be called ‘Maw Maw.’
The grandmother of Ja’Quin Thomas was known by nearly everyone around Ville Platte as Tina, but she had no plans to allow her grandbaby to call her by her first name.
“All he heard coming up was people calling me was Tina,” Tina said. “He was about 5 years old and I told him call me ‘Maw Maw.’ He said ‘I thought your name was Tina?’ I said, ‘yes baby but you are my grandson so you need to start calling me Maw Maw.’
“He said OK, ‘Maw Maw’ I will start calling you ‘Maw Maw.’”
That memory is one of several that Tina has played over and over again in her mind the past few months. That lovable little child, who never wanted to let her leave the house without him, grew up to be a good student and emerging football star who was involved with his family’s church.
That same bright young man somehow though got steered off the righteous path and found himself charged with second-degree murder, and then a few months later would take his own life inside a jail cell in New Orleans.
Ja’Quin Thomas was 15 years old.
“He was a good kid”
Ja’Quin Kemaya Thomas was born on Jan. 24, 2001, in New Orleans to parents Tresscel Thomas and Joseph Grant III but would be raised from day one by his grandmother Tina. Ja’Quin would never know his father, who is serving a sentence at the Elayn Hunt Correction Center in St. Gabriel, and didn’t see much more of his mother who is serving time at the Louisiana Transition Center for Women in Tallulah.
Despite not having his birth parents in his life, under the watchful eye of his grandmother Ja’Quin would grow up to be a kind, loyal, and by all accounts good young man.
“I always admired his character,” Ville Platte High girls basketball coach and distant relative Dorothy Doulet said. “He was such a good young man. He loved animals. His desire was to get a dog. Just this past year he met my husband and we had the opportunity to do some things together and my husband was so just impressed of how respectful he was. He was a nice humble young man. It is just tragic what happened.”
Ja’Quin’s older cousin Donovan Taylor said, “He was a kid that was very, very respectful and very well mannered.”
She added, “Any adult or anybody with authority he always addressed them with ‘yes mam’ and ‘yes sir.’ That was my little man. He was a brother to me but in a weird way he was like a son to me.”
Ja’Quin may have been born in New Orleans but he was raised in Ville Platte, as his grandmother relocated to the Evangeline Parish community following Hurrican Katrina. Ja’Quin became ingrained into the Ville Platte community as he served as junior deacon at Ninth Missionary Baptist Church, was a member of the church’s youth choir, and even worked on lawn mowers in town to make a little extra cash.
Ja’Quin also had developed a reputation for being a caring, hardworking and accomplished student.
“This was a child that I could send back to my classroom to get my own purse,” Ja’Quin’s 8th grade teacher Kelly Bellard said. “He never stole anything. If he saw a pencil on the desk he would return it to the child it belonged to. He was a good kid.”
Ja’Quin was also a naturally gifted athlete and would soon become a star on the Ville Platte Junior High team for head coach Ezekial Thomas. He started both his seventh and eighth grade seasons for the Bulldogs, lining up at linebacker and fullback and lead the team in tackles in 2015.
“He was a kid that caught on quick,” Ezekial said. “He was always so respectful. I couldn’t ask for a better kid to coach. He would have gotten a lot of playing time this past year for the high school team.”
Ville Platte High senior linebacker Tralon Thomas said, “He was good enough that he would have started as a freshman. We were looking forward to playing together.
“He reminded me of me. Not just physically, but his dedication. There was one summer that we worked out a lot. He went jogging with me and everything. He had a dream of playing football and one day taking care of his grandmother and his sister and little brother.”
Not only had Ja’Quin found plenty of male role models through the game of football, he also found his first real teenage girlfriend — and it was none other than his coach’s own daughter Azeekia.
“He came to our house one day after practice and I was wondering why he was at my home,” Ezekial said. “He said, ‘coach can I talk to you. I want your permission to date your daughter.’ I said son, ‘it may be tomorrow or it may not be until next year but I will let you know.’
“The next day he came back again,” Ezekial said. “I said ‘Jaquin I haven’t decided yet.’ He said ‘I know coach but I will come every day.’”
The young love relationship didn’t last but the bond between Ja’Quin and his coach did.
A summer with his uncle
After some self doubt in the spring that he could play high school football, Ja’Quin began looking forward to suiting up for Ville Platte High’s football team in the fall.
Ja’Quin made the decision though that he would go down to his native New Orleans over the summer. Ja’Quin’s intention was to work with his great uncle Tyrance Chancellor and earn enough money to help his grandmother with school supplies for he and his brother for the upcoming school year.
“My brother called me up and said ‘Tina I have a job for Ja’Quin washing cars at a car wash,’” Tina said. “I asked him not to go down to New Orleans but he said ‘Maw Maw, I am just going down there to wash some cars and I will be back.’”
Tina wasn’t the only one that had concerns about Ja’Quin spending the summer with the 34-year-old Chancellor, who had been arrested over the years for a multitude of crimes.
“I told him sometimes a person you think is going to help you may not be there to really help you,” Ezekial said.
Others in Ja’Quin’s inner circle echoed that sentiment but none louder than Donovan, who had first-hand knowledge of what living with Chancellor entailed.
When Donovan was 18 years old he went and lived with Chancellor but after little more than a month he moved back home to Ville Platte.
“I am not going to get into the personal stuff about him because I don’t want to make it about him,” Donovan said. “You know what type of people you dealing with especially when they are quote unquote family. This is the cousin or family member you don’t want to deal with. You love them from a distance.”
“I was 18 and I was trying to be responsible,” Donovan said. “When you don’t have people in your corner that are going to support you with a sound mind then you don’t need to be around them.”
Due to Ja’Quin not having a cell phone at the time of his summer relocation to New Orleans, Donovan didn’t have a chance to talk him out of going but when he did call a few weeks afterwards, Donovan made sure to give his younger cousin a warning.
“I kept telling him whatever you do don’t get distracted,” Donovan said. “Don’t get caught up in any type of new lifestyle. I had a stint with the same guy when I went down there. I already knew what could happen.”
“You could see trouble,” Donovan said. “It takes a strong mind and a mature mind to see it. Ja’Quin was just 15 years old. I kept telling him over and over, ‘don’t take the rap.’”
That trouble Donovan spoke of would fatally occur on a hot night in New Orleans last July.
A fateful night
in New Orleans
According to arrest reports from the Orleans Parish Police Department, Ja’Quin and Chancellor forced their way into an apartment located on Chef Menteur Highway around 3:30 a.m. on July 21. The break-in resulted in the shooting death of 24-year-old Hasahn Shawl.
In the report, Chancellor told police that Ja’Quin was the one that had fatally shot Shawl during an altercation inside the apartment.
Ja’Quin was arrested for second-degree murder.
“It tore me apart,” said Tina when she heard the news. “It still tears me apart. I just couldn’t believe that was my child. Nobody could make me believe that.”
His arrest floored those who knew him best in Ville Platte.
“There was no way that he had committed such a vicious crime,” his teacher, Kelly Bellard, said. “He was one of the best kids that I probably have ever taught. He was so smart and loved to learn. More importantly he had so much empathy for other students. If another student was having a bad day or was upset or even a teacher he was the first to ask them are you OK? So to hear that was accused of such a horrible crime is unbelievable.”
“I was very shocked,” Doulet said. “I didn’t think he was capable of doing things that way. When I read the story through the internet I said to myself ‘nah, there is something behind all of that. That is not the Jaquin that was here in Ville Platte.”
For those who knew Ja’Quin, the eye of suspicion turned solely to Chancellor and the influence he held over the teenage boy.
“What I do know is that Ja’Quin was eager to please,” Bellard said. “The first thing that crossed my mind is that his uncle took advantage of him and that he preyed upon his desire to please everyone.”
“First of all I got a call about what allegedly happened,” Donovan said. “They told me what had happened and they told me that Ja’Quin was with our uncle. As soon as I heard that I just busted out crying because I knew right then that it wasn’t what it seemed to be. That what happened wasn’t him but who he was with it— that sounded like that person.”
That suspicion is supported by Ameer Baraka.
Baraka is a New Orleans-based activist, actor and mentor to teenage prisoners. Baraka himself went to prison at the age of 14 for a shooting death. Based on recommendation from a friend that worked at the correctional facility, Baraka met Ja’Quin and began to mentor the young inmate with discussions about controlling emotions while locked up and conflict resolutions.
“In our culture the streets are lying to our children,” Baraka said. “In order to be a real cat you got to steal rob and kill. These are the myths the young males are buying into. Ja’Quin told me that his uncle told him to go steal but he didn’t want to but he didn’t want to disappoint his uncle.
“His uncle had him popping pills and smoking marijuana. His uncle was a 34-year-old man and had him out there doing things as an adult. It was effortlessly for him to embrace what his uncle said because it was his uncle.”
Oct. 17, 2016
Ja’Quin’s months of incarnation was tumultuous from the start.
Due to being a juvenile, Ja’Quin initially went to the Orleans Parish juvenile center but since the state had probable cause he was transferred to criminal district court. Ja’Quin was transferred out of the juvenile facility and into the Orleans Justice Center on July 28. Ja’Quin though didn’t see a judge until Aug. 24, despite state law stating the defendants are supposed to appear before a judge within 72 hours. The following day Magistrate Judge Harry Cantrell set Ja’Quin’s bond at $550,000.
That prompted many leaders in Ville Platte to pen character letters to the judge in helping getting his bond reduced. Those included the Rev. Darwin Lazard at Ninth Baptist, Mamou Mayor Ricky Fontenot and Doulet.
“They were charged with the same crime so we thought with his uncle’s criminal history that their bond should be the same,” said Attorney Andrew Bevinetto, who served as second chair on Ja’Quin’s case. “Those letters from the community really helped.”
Cantrell would reduce the bond by $200,000 on Sept. 13.
Ja’Quin, already known as a gifted writer, began writing letters to family and friends, in some cases expressing regret for what happened and for even going to New Orleans. Ja’Quin though also began to reflect on what good he could accomplish from the tragedy that had occurred.
In a letter found in his jail cell titled “Time and Thought,” Ja’Quin wrote “A positive outlook is valuable in times of darkness. Always remember that your troubles are only temporary, the best is yet to come. Always be open-minded and understand to the best of your ability about the things you say and do.”
Even after Ja’Quin was involved in a physcial altercation with other inmates, Ja’Quin remained upbeat and even positive when talking to loved ones.
Then came the night of Oct. 17, 2016.
Deputies with the Orleans Parish Sheriff’s Office discovered Ja’Quin unresponsive at 9:19 p.m. on the evening of Oct. 17, 2016, during a security check. Ja’Quin would be later pronounced dead at University Medical Center at 10:11 p.m. Sheriff’s officials stated that Ja’Quin had hung himself with a mattress cover inside his cell.
The one-time junior deacon of his church, emerging football star and gifted writer was dead at the age of 15.
“I didn’t see that he was that fragile,” Baraka said. “He made this decision abruptly. He made an abrupt decision and I don’t know how he could come to the conclusion. Why would he do that if I was coming the next day?”
“I just kept tossing and turning that night,” said Tralon, who served as a pallbearer at the funeral. “I woke up that morning and my mom told me that he had hung himself. I was speechless for like five hours and then I started crying and couldn’t stop. I didn’t want to talk to anyone that day.”
“I didn’t believe at first,” Donovan said. “The only thing I could do was just breathe.”
Trying to move forward
Those who loved and knew Ja’Quin were filled with anger and despair in the days and weeks that followed his death. Hundreds paid their respects for his funeral service in Ville Platte on Oct. 29, 2016, a service attended by his parents who were granted day passes for the funeral.
Donovan was surprised by how many people came for the funeral, but was also suspect of who was there for the right reasons.
“That is all I could think of at the funeral,” Donovan said. “I thought where were all of you at? Ya’ll couldn’t drop a piece of fish in some grease for a dinner plate to help him or anything but you are here now?
“I am not down with snotting all over the casket or anything. Guess what? When he was here I did that then. Now that he gone he is gone. He is at peace. You should be crying for the living, like his little brother who lost his brother.”
Tina meanwhile provided her brother with forgiveness.
“I forgave my brother,” Tina said. “But I will never forget.”
The anger and despair over Ja’Quin’s death will likely not be quelled even now as Chancellor faces the possibility of spending the remainder of his life behind bars.
Chancellor was indicted by an Orleans Parish Grand Jury for murder on Nov. 3. Chancellor is charged with second-degree murder, obstruction of justice, Oxycodone distribution, possession of a firearm by a felon, illegal drug possession in the presence of a minor and contributing to the delinquency of a minor.
An Orleans Parish Grand Jury handed down the indictment. Bond has been set at $2.25 million
“His uncle currently has the murder charge and I hope they do prosecute him,” Baraka said. “This guy is psychopath in my opinion.”
Donovan said, “Just imagine what it would be like for you to lose someone that was like a son or brother to you or even your own son. I think everybody should be held accountable for the demise of this kid. Everybody.”
For those who are left behind, the circumstances that led to Ja’Quin’s tragic death will hopefully serve some sort of purpose.
“I miss him of course but I just can’t cry anymore,” said Tralon, who is headed to Louisiana-Monroe to play football next year. “My heart hurts. My motivation for years was to get a college scholarship to get my mom out of the projects. Now with Ja’Quin’s death it gives me more motivation to succeed and get my degree.”