‘He had dreams and aspirations': Des Moines family remembers March shooting victim, as police announce arrest

When someone needed a lift, Darryn Boles-Brooks was often the first person to offer them his passenger seat.

The 25-year-old Des Moines man recently got a new job and a new car. He and his girlfriend were celebrating two years together; he was asked to be the best man in a friend's upcoming wedding.

On the evening of March 8, Boles-Brooks dropped his mother off at work like he did almost every day for the past six months.

Several hours later, just after 1 a.m. on March 9, he was found shot to death in a parking lot at the 1000 block of 11th Street on Des Moines' north side. He was the third of five homicide victims in Des Moines so far this year, police said.

On Monday, police arrested and charged Larontez Javon Buchanan, 19, of Des Moines with first-degree murder, Sgt. Rod Santizo of the Des Moines Police Department said in a press release. Buchanan is being held at the Iowa Department of Corrections on unrelated charges, police said.

Earlier this month, a dozen of Boles-Brooks' loved ones gathered in the home of his oldest brother to remember the man whose life was taken too soon.

"He had dreams and aspirations," said his mother, Tiffaney Holton Brooks, 44. "He wanted to be somebody."

Boles-Brooks' grin was memorialized in nine square photos and one round pin on his mother's shirt.

"That smile," said his great-aunt, Sylvia Rogers, 75, as the corners of her own lips stretched upward at the memory.

"When he smiled, you couldn't see his eyes," she laughed.

Rogers used to call him Cubano, a tribute to his late father's ancestors. It was one of many nicknames he was given through the years.

It started with "Small Fry," a namesake he was at a young age because he was cute, little and "just the color of a french fry," Holton Brooks said. Plus, he loved McDonald's fries.

By middle school, Boles-Brooks was requesting he instead be called "Smart Guy."

The second oldest of five brothers and a stepsister, Boles-Brooks was competitive during family volleyball games, but was also known as a peacemaker, said his grandfather, André Brooks, 62.

His family fondly recalled Boles-Brooks' generosity, both as a child and as a young man.

"He used to bring kids home that weren't eating at school to eat at our house," said Boles-Brooks' cousin, Chané Brooks, 29.

He would ask to buy extra school supplies for kids who needed it, and he gave away a handful of coats to students who didn't have them, she said.

"He just had love for everybody," Chané Brooks said.

Boles-Brooks moved to Des Moines from Chicago with his mom when he was 6 years old "in hopes of a safer environment and better life," his obituary read.

He attended Findley Elementary School, Harding Middle School and later graduated in 2012 from North High School, where he played football, basketball and track, his family said. He attended Grand View University but took time off to work at XPO Logistics, where he operated a forklift.

More recently, he had talked about his future, about raising his credit score and going into real estate, said his older brother, Darryl Brooks, 28. He'd begun planning for a family of his own.

He was "finding his place in life," Holton Brooks, his mother, said.

Darryl Brooks said Monday that he feels bittersweet following the arrest.

"But we also know that we have a long road ahead of us before it's truly over," he said.

"It makes me proud that I had a great son," Holton Brooks said. "It makes me angry that we'll never know the type of man that he was growing into — because he was coming into his own; he was a special person."

His grandfather, André Brooks, who is also pastor of Kingdom Life Family Ministries International in Des Moines, said there's often a misconception that when someone dies violently, they were involved in "some kind of darkness and some kind of violence, and that's not the truth."

His grandson, he said, wasn't a "gang-banger or drug dealer."

"He didn't live that type of life," Darryl Brooks added about his brother.

Boles-Brooks' life was celebrated on March 16 with a funeral at Revival Center Church of God in Christ.

"To be a Christian and to say 'I believe in God,' I have to forgive the person who did this to my son, and that's the thing that I struggle with," Holton Brooks said.

"It's going to be a minute," André Brooks added.

The person who killed Boles-Brooks will never know how painful it was for Holton Brooks to cancel her son's phone plan, she said, or to tell the dealership she would be returning his new car.

The killer will never know how difficult it is for her to walk into his room every day and look down at his pile of clothes she hasn't been able to bring herself to pick up off the floor, she added.

All she has now are memories — some in the form of photos spread across the kitchen table, where some of her family had gathered.

In one image, a prom-ready Boles-Brooks stands in a tuxedo complete with a bright purple tie, his hands tucked into his pockets. In another, he poses in an Aéropostale shirt with his older brother.

He was wise, Holton Brooks said.

"That's why he had a beard at five," André Brooks joked.

Holton Brooks remembered her son advising her about a conflict she was trying to resolve at work: "Mamma, you know, just be real."

He had a way of talking about life in a way that made those around him comfortable, but also gave them a new perspective, André Brooks said.

And when he laughed, it was a full, genuine laugh, followed by a mantra — three words his family repeated with smiles:

"Tru, tru, tru."

Anna Spoerre is a breaking news reporter at the Des Moines Register. She can be reached by email at aspoerre@dmreg.com, by phone at 515-284-8387, or on Twitter at @annaspoerre.