Even when Daymond Garner cooked up something as simple as a cheesesteak, he never kept it basic. He’d go through the fridge and cabinets and toss in everything but the kitchen sink.
He probably would have put that in, too, if it wasn’t bolted down, said his cousin, Davida Garner.
“It was like, everything he made he’d use just about every seasoning my grandmother had, and he’d put in all these weird ingredients, some I had no idea what they were, but he had so much fun with it,” said Davida, 25. “Cooking was his passion.”
Garner, who went by the nickname “Cash” — a shortening of his middle name, Cashif — dreamed of becoming a professional chef. Despite serious health issues his entire life, Garner enrolled in culinary school in his 20s and had really sharpened his skills, Davida said. He was determined to someday cook for other people, at a restaurant or perhaps via his own catering business.
But he never got to realize that dream. In the early morning hours of June 5, 2017, a still-unidentified gunman entered the West Oak Lane home he shared with his grandmother and shot him multiple times, killing him. He was 29.
To much of the outside world, Garner appeared quiet and ruminative, but his family and his small, close-knit circle of friends regularly saw his hilarious, gregarious and extremely generous side.
Garner was born in Philadelphia on Feb. 9, 1988, to teenaged parents and as an infant came under the care of his grandmother, Irene, who soon gained full custody of him. Constantly sick as a baby, at 5 years old Garner was diagnosed with sickle cell anemia, which caused him frequent episodes of tremendous pain and numerous hospitalizations, said Davida, who, along with her brother, was also raised by their grandmother.
When he was 18, Garner had a particularly acute pain attack. “He almost didn’t make it,” Davida said. “I remember them calling our whole family to the hospital because they told us he wasn’t going to make it, but then he pulled through.”
Even though Garner struggled with the disease, his cousin remembers plenty of fun times growing up with him, from his early and sometimes disastrous cooking experiments to competitions at the dinner table to see who could eat the fastest. “My grandmom would get upset because we’d all be gobbling our food,” she laughed.
Garner had worked at a sneaker shop, but his health issues forced him to go on disability. His frequent bouts with pain got him down, Davida said, but once he finally got medication in his later 20s, he was able to pursue a culinary career.
When Garner was feeling better, he moved out of his grandmother’s house for a while, but he moved back in about a year before his death. “My grandmom was the one who knew how to take care of him and make sure everything was going right, and he was helping her because she was up in age — they really helped each other,” Davida said.
In addition to cooking, Garner was really into anime and superhero movies, and he loved to rap, sometimes guesting on tracks produced by a good friend who had founded the Philly-area label Prezrecords.
Garner was also crazy about basketball, and though he liked the Philadelphia 76ers, he was an avid fan of LeBron James. Davida said that Garner was watching highlights of the NBA finals between LeBron’s Cleveland Cavaliers and the Golden State Warriors when he was killed.
The identity of Garner’s killer and the circumstances surrounding the shooting remain a mystery — Davida said that investigators told her it may have been a botched robbery attempt. “I personally won’t be happy until we find out what happened to him and we get that closure,” she said.
The family remains devastated by the loss of Garner. “My grandmother is really having a hard time with it, and my son, anytime he sees basketball on TV he says, ‘That’s Cash, that’s Cash,’” Davida said. “I don’t think he understands that he won’t be able to see Cash anymore.”
To help her deal with the trauma, Davida founded Erase the Rate, which provides emotional and financial support to families of Philadelphia homicide victims. Erase the Rate has also organized anti-violence marches in the city and group members go into area schools to advocate for nonviolence.
“(Erase the Rate) is based on all the things I’ve learned through my own experiences and through the many families I’ve talked to who have been dealing with loss,” Davida said. “I’m trying to help these other families heal and I’m not fully healed yet, but this is what I have to do because it’s really important.”
“Everything I do now to support and uplift others is in honor of Cash, and I think he’d be really happy about that,” she said.
Anyone with information about Garner’s killing is asked to call 215-686-TIPS or e-mail [email protected]. All tips can be made anonymously.
Date: 2017-06-05
Location: 6500 N 16th St, Philadelphia, PA
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From GoFundMe:
Due to the unforeseen circumstances of the passing of my son Daymond (Cash) Garner, the family would greatly appreciate any monetary donations to help bury him. Please find it in your hearts to help us through this traumatic time as it would truly be a blessing.
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