Family reflects on slain teen

About six months ago, Lamonte Stone found a puppy on the side of the road.

The dog had been abandoned and couldn’t walk. Lamonte, who everyone knows as “CoCo,” took the puppy home to a not-so-thrilled mother and grandmother.

“Get him out of here,” said Jean Jackson, CoCo’s grandmother, when CoCo got to his house. “Ain’t nobody keeping a dog.”

“He’s hungry, Jean,” CoCo said. “It’s cold, and I can’t leave him out there.”

He convinced his mother and grandmother to let his new pet stay. CoCo named the dog Peanut.

He took care of the Pit bull and Boxer mix and bought him food, a collar and a leash. After Peanut’s first trip to the veterinarian, CoCo held him during the car ride back to his house.

“He’d roll around on the porch, playing with the dog,” said Jeaniqua Jackson, CoCo’s mother. “(Peanut’s) just like CoCo. He gets along with everyone.”

CoCo died after he was shot Friday at about 11:46 p.m., according to a news release from the Danville Police Department. Police found him lying in the road on the 500 block of Madison Street.

Two other people were wounded in the shooting. They were treated for injuries that are not life threatening.

Quayshuan Malik Woods, 18, has been charged with use of a firearm in the commission of a felony in connection with the shooting. He is being held in the Danville City Jail under no bond.

‘I loved him so much’

Jean gave Lamonte his nickname because of his dark complexion as a baby.

The name stuck.

CoCo was always happy, his family said. He liked math and football. He loved to dance. He was inclusive, full of energy and stylish.

Jeaniqua, his mother, said CoCo would be the first one out of bed before school each morning and the last person to leave the house to catch the bus. He attended O.T. Bonner Middle School, where he was an eighth-grader.

“He has to have a perfect outfit,” she said.

Paul Stone, one of his brothers, said CoCo wore skinny jeans and small clothes. He didn’t have a favorite brand.

“He didn’t care as long as he looked good,” Paul said.

CoCo also wore religious jewelry. The family attends Bibleway Church. A silver cross leaning against Jesus’ shoulder dangled from Paul’s neck Sunday. The necklace belonged to CoCo.

Paul, who is 17, said he and CoCo were close.

“I loved him a lot,” Paul said. “I loved him so much. Me and him, we played ball together, played football together. We did a lot of stuff together.”

Paul said CoCo played tight end and linebacker. And off the field, CoCo entertained his family and friends.

Jean said he would take his shirt off, walk to a mirror and flex both arms, biceps facing the mirror and hands even with the top of his head.

“He had no meat,” Jean said. “That was his signature. He was going to do something to make you laugh.”

Most of all, CoCo cared about others and loved life, Jean said. He tried to include everyone during trips to Skatetown and convinced his friends to pool their money together for those who couldn’t pay to skate.

“He loved everybody,” Jeaniqua said.

Friday night

Jeaniqua received a phone call Friday night after her children, who were at a party, heard gunfire.

“I grabbed the keys and went out the door,” Jeaniqua said.

Some neighbors said they heard 10 shots; others heard about 30.

She got to Madison Street, where somebody stopped her and told her CoCo was shot.

“When I got over there, he was lying in the street,” she said.

The police were there, but no ambulances.

“They wouldn’t let me go by him,” she said. “Every time I tried, I couldn’t get to him.”

Police cleared the street around CoCo, and let Jeaniqua stand a little closer than the rest of the crowd.

Thoughts raced through her head.

“Somebody help him,” Jeaniqua remembered thinking. “I just wanted somebody to help him. To get him off the street.”

The ambulance finally arrived and took CoCo to Danville Regional Medical Center. A police officer told Jeaniqua that he could take her to the hospital, but his car was blocked in. Jeaniqua waited before telling the officer that she had to go to the hospital now. They moved cars so she could get hers out.

Talking to people who attended the party, the family learned how CoCo was shot.

He was there with two of his siblings, the family said.

They said CoCo was inside the house when the first shots were fired outside. When he didn’t see his sister inside, he rushed out of the house to find her.

More gunfire came.

And one of the shots hit CoCo in the chest.