For most of his life, Diane Brooks and her husband, Earl, never stopped being amazed at the lengths their son would go to when it came to helping his friends.
“Jared was always giving and doing for others,” Diane said. “He was always giving and doing. When his friend didn’t have anywhere to go and started living outside, Jared would be outside with him.”
Then, Jared started inviting friends he would meet outside to stay inside the house.
“At first I was angry, it was close to 10 people in my backyard! Then I thought about it and thought, ‘Wow my baby, he is just trying to give these people shelter.’ So, I started giving him stuff to help like blankets and food for him to take outside.”
Jared was a father, a hardworking man with a good heart. Unfortunately his good heart would be taken away. Just a few hours after his birthday, Jared would be shot at G. St and Allegheny avenues in Kensington. The police have found no suspects and justice has yet to be issued. He just turned 27.
Soon after he was born April 18, 1994, Diane and Earl began noticing the sharp intelligence in Jared and along with Jared came his siblings. His older brother Tyrell, older sister Tiffany, and his younger brother Justin. Aside from watching cartoons with his mom, he would play with his siblings and Jared’s favorite thing to do was hang on Tiffany’s hips as she carried him He was just 4 years old when he started opening the front door to walk to the corner store by himself.
“All our neighbors knew him,” Diane said. “We lived in Frankford, and there was a small corner store down the street. One morning I thought he was sitting down watching cartoons like he usually does. Turns out he opened the front door and walked to the store. Jared would pick up what he wanted and leave.”
Since everyone in their area was well connected, the cashier of the corner store would inform Diane whenever this took place. “I would get a call and the lady would say that I owe $20 from whatever Jared took that day.”
As a boy Jared was friendly to whoever crossed his path. He excelled in his schoolwork at home but in class he felt restless and his teachers would call to express his unwillingness to focus. After hearing this complaint, Diane and Earl knew that it wasn’t the case for their son.
“Me and my wife would get calls from Jared’s teachers; they’d ask us to come to the school so we can talk about why Jared isn’t participating in class, they felt it was because he had difficulty learning. My wife and I looked at Jared and said, ‘Spell cat’, ‘ C-A-T’, Jared would say. He proved the teachers wrong with every question. Our son has always been smart, we knew there was something different about him but he wasn’t dumb,” Earl said.
Earl and Diane were correct about their son being different, a few weeks after, Jared would be evaluated and it would be confirmed that Jared’s had bipolar disorder. But that made them more determined to make Jared aware of his condition. “When we found out he was bipolar we didn’t want to treat him different and we didn’t want to stir him away from learning how to live a life of his own.”
“He was intelligent, he just wouldn’t sit still,” Diane said.
Despite his diagnosis, Jared was able to grab the hearts of his teachers at Frankford High School, where he also picked up his love of sports. “Jared loved football and play video games. He was also very serious about a rap career,” Diane said.
He went on to graduate from Youth Build Philly Charter School. His mother couldn’t have been more proud. “I remember his smile; it was as big as mine. You couldn’t tell me nothing that day,” Diane said.
Whenever there was an opportunity to work, Jared made sure he was there to do the job. He worked the ticket booth at that roller skating center—where he was also a mascot—and worked with the roofing union before his death, as well as helping his father with making independent movies.
During his time at the roller skating center, he made sure that his family were having a good time.
“Jared was a mascot at the roller center and my granddaughters didn’t know he was in the suit. So he’d come up behind them and surprise them.” Diane said, “He was their fun Uncle Jared, everyone loved him.
So many people loved him because of his personality, but kids love Jared most of all. He would make himself out to be a “big kid” and meet the kids at eye level to show he understood them.
“Even though he was bipolar he was a people person. Even the cops, everybody. They’d say he was more of a nuisance on himself than others,” Earl said.
What made him proud was spending time with his daughter, Sinayah. He made sure to spend time doing whatever she wanted and not a second wasted. “Jared would take his daughter to get her nails done, they would play dolls together and he lit up whenever she was around.” Diane said.
Jared was reliable, somebody you can call on when you needed help at anytime of the day. “He has that spirit that he would do anything for you and he wouldn’t hesitate to say OK.” Diane said. “You knew that he was showing up.
Besides having a good job with the roofing union, Jared worked hard to secure his next dream—a car.
“I told Jared to give me the money that he wants to put down for the car and I would give it back on his birthday,” Earl said. “I wanted to teach him how to save.” That same weekend of his birthday and unbeknownst to his parents he bought the car. He was happy with his purchase since having a car was needed for his job.
“That night on his birthday he was out with some friends, riding around in his new car. A lot of people started asking for rides and Jared was so nice he couldn’t say no.”
Jared gave somebody a ride to Frankford “the bad part” as Diane says. The detective states that words were spoken between Jared and the unknown man.
“They said the guy asked him something and Jared turned around, once he did that the man shot him in the back of the head. They haven’t brought anyone in because none of the witnesses were saying anything,” Diane said.
Even though this is a stressful time for Diane and Earl, Diane still finds it in her heart to pray for the shooters family.
“I don’t know what provoked that man to do that to my baby, but I do know that he caused a lot of people pain.”
“My heart races when I talk about my baby.”
Jared overcame a mental adversity and through helping and caring for others he was able to succeed in everything that he did. Earl and Diane want to shed light on how being bipolar can affect families and most importantly the person who is bipolar. “There’s nothing wrong in the Black community but they think your crazy when it’s just its a chemical imbalance in your brain. There’s nothing wrong with being a man and seeking help,” Earl said.
Their son taught the community that anything is possible through God that strengthens them.
Resources are available for people and communities that have endured gun violence in Philadelphia. Click here for more information.
A reward of up to $20,000 if available to anyone that comes forward with information that leads to the arrest and conviction of the person responsible for this murder. Anonymous tips can be submitted by calling the Citizens Crime Commission at 215-546-TIPS or by CLICKING HERE TO FILL OUT this form.
