It’s been nearly 10 months since Jarvon Coles, a senior at North Shore Senior High School, was senselessly shot and killed at a house party in the Humble area.
The 18-year-old had a 4.2 GPA and was a prolific member of their football team. He had plans to stay local, continuing his athletic and academic career at Lamar University in Beaumont. He took care of business on the field and in the classroom, and his teammates and friends had nothing but positive words to say about him. By all accounts, he was an All-American success story.
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In the wake of the tragic murder, there was an outpour of support from the football world and the Houston community. Philadelphia Eagles’ star quarterback Jalen Hurts, a Channelview native, even covered the costs of Coles’ funeral expenses.
However, the weeks following the crime turned into months, and as of today, nobody has come forward with information about Coles’ murder.
KPRC 2 producer Michael Horton spoke with Braxton Coles, Jarvon’s grandfather who runs the “Crash Out for Cause” Foundation, to discuss the status of the investigation and how the family is giving back to the community in Jarvon’s name.
Michael Horton: Thank you for taking the time, Braxton.
Braxton Coles: Hey, no problem. Any time I get a chance to talk about it, that’s a good day. So, thank you so much for reaching out.
Michael Horton: The first thing I wanted to ask you is if you could just give me kind of an update on what the timeline has been with your communication with the police since this since this tragic thing happened.
Braxton Coles: So, we spoke with two deputies kind of on a regular basis. And unfortunately, due to a lot of the circumstances, the location and the time and the amount of people, they still don’t have anybody. Nobody has come forward to say, you know, that’s the person who did it. But they are still actively working the case, and they stay in touch with us on a regular basis.
Michael Horton: When’s the most recent time you’ve spoken to them?
Braxton Coles: Must have been a couple of weeks ago. We did a Crime Stoppers interview, so we’re just kind of keeping it alive. And, you know, I don’t want to keep bugging them every week, but I’ll let those guys do their job, and we’ll do our job.
Michael Horton: What have the past nine or 10 months been like for your family?
Braxton Coles: I mean, I really don’t know how to describe it. It’s been kind of like a nightmare, but a lot of good has come from it, also. You know, I miss him all day, every day. (He) was my grandson, but he was my best friend. He was kind of like my constant companion since he was seven years old, So, we go day by day, and it’s especially hard now during football season because, you know, I had planned on watching him on Saturday[s]. And, that was taken from [us], so it’s been kind of difficult, but the community has been really, really great. His teammates, his friends, they call me, they text me. They come by and visit, you know. So that’s been one really bright spot in this whole ordeal.
Michael Horton: National Early Signing Day was last week, and there were some notable players from North Shore who made their college commitments. What was it like to have that happen without Braxton?
Braxton Coles: Well, it was kind of like a bittersweet day because, he would have been playing at Lamar [University] now. But, you know, those kids who signed that day, for a lot of them, he played with them or against them since he was seven years old. They call me “Pops.” I’m just so, so, so proud of all of those guys who signed that day, and the ones the ones who [will sign] in January. It’s not like I’m living vicariously through them. But to see those guys move forward in their careers and, the schools, you know—Ohio State, Arkansas, Colorado—you have to be more than a jock to get into those schools. So those kids, like my grandson, they had a lot on the ball, and I just wish them the very best, and I’ll continue to follow their career as they move forward.
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Michael Horton: Have you had any contact with Lamar?
Braxton Coles: I had spoken to Lamar. [Jarvon’s] best friend goes to Lamar, Dillon Dixon, and he has a podcast where he talks about him. So, I don’t want to seem like the creepy old man, you know, kind of stalking around. He had his time, and now is their time. I don’t want to make it about him all the time, because they earned what they have. So, I want to let them enjoy what they have now and what they will have in the future.
Michael Horton: What has the holiday season kind of been like, as the first one without Jarvon?
Braxton Coles: That’s been really, really, really tough because there’s an empty chair at the table. It’s hard. It’s hard for me to really be in a celebratory mood, because he’s not here. And it’s almost like I’m cheating on him by kind of being happy when he’s not around to enjoy it, you know? This is the season he loved, the holiday season, and it was taken from him. So, you know, it’s kind of like ups and downs.
Michael Horton: Is there is there anything else you’d like to add?
Braxton Coles: Yeah, I would. So, at the beginning I spoke about how some good came out of it. So, one of the best things is, we created a foundation to address the epidemic of senseless gun violence that has taken our future from us, because that’s what it’s doing. Jarvon had a 4.2 GPA; he was a math genius; he could have done anything in the world. That was taken from him. That was taken from the world. So, we created a foundation that’s called “Crash Out for Cause.” [We named it] “Crash Out,” because that’s what he had on the back of his letterman’s jacket: Crash Out, because that’s how he lived his life. When he stepped on the football field, he went all out. In the classroom, he went out all out also. So, we’ve created a nonprofit and we found out in June or July that we had been approved for 501 c3 status.
So, we have a nonprofit, Crash Out for Cause, and we want to do several things. We want to bring awareness about the gun violence. We talk about gun safety for responsible gun owners. And the other thing that we do is—one of the things that I’ll never forget is when he first started playing Little League football, I was standing up there watching them, and it was a young man standing next to me, a kid about his age. And I looked at him, and I said, “What’s wrong, son? You don’t like football?” And he kind of put his head down and didn’t say anything. So, I didn’t say anything else. And then I asked the coach, you know, “What’s wrong with the kid over there?” And the coach told me that he wanted to play, but his parents couldn’t afford the registration. After that, I would sponsor a kid a year. And now with Crash Out, that’s what we do.
Recently, at the start of the little league football season, Crash Out for Cause went to four different youth football organizations on the eastside, the Bengals, the Saints, the Pride and the Mustangs. We presented each one of those organizations with a check to sponsor a kid to be able to play football. We just, last Friday, in partnership with another nonprofit, IIoG, [we] did a sponsorship for youth basketball with the Eastside Youth Basketball Organization.
We’re going to continue to do things like that. We’re going to present the scholarship to Houston Public Works. I worked for Houston Public Works, and that’s like another family. So, we are going to do a scholarship in his name to Houston Public Works, one to Channelview High School and one to North Shore High School. So, all of that’s going to be upcoming probably after the [high school] playoffs, and we just want to keep it going. We just want to show the kids that there is another way besides shooting. You know, we used to speak to each other. Now we just shoot each other, and we want to kind of show that that’s not the way to go.
Michael Horton: Very, very powerful stuff. Have you done any work towards the gun safety initiative specifically yet, or is that coming in the future?
Braxton Coles: We are in partnership, too, with the Houston Police Department public affairs group, and they provide us gun locks and brochures and pamphlets. They speak about gun safety and gun violence. When we attend the various events—we have attended a back-to-school events where we tried to get our message out. We have an upcoming event on Dec. 31 in partnership with IIoG, where we’re going to give away Christmas toys. I have talked to youth at various schools and other organizations. Anybody who wants to listen to me, I have spoken at churches and the kids there. Anybody who will have me, I will come and talk to them about the effects that this has on me, and my family, and countless families across the country.
But just as an aside, I got a I received a message the other day on [Facebook] Messenger from a mother in Georgia whose daughter was murdered the same way [as Jarvon]. I’m in close communications with another family in Georgia whose son, Daryus, was murdered in the same way that Jarvon was. And in talking to us, they created a foundation in Georgia, called DB2, that does the same things that we are doing with Crash Out for Cause.
I don’t have a whole staff. I don’t have a bunch of people. It’s basically just me and my family. Brittany, Jarvon’s mother, my wife Rene, my daughters Brandi and Brittany and my brothers and sisters who are here. And, you know, people ask me, “How do you do it?” And my response is, it’s not me, then who?”
Michael Horton: Do you feel like working together on this as a family has brought you all closer together?
Braxton Coles: I think so. I mean, we were always pretty close as a family. But this, I refused to let this horrible tragedy kind of like drive us apart. The board members, both the foundation is the family. Although it may seem like, because people see me all the time, that I’m that guy, you know, it’s a family deal. I asked those guys for their opinions, you know, “What do you want to do?” And their input and their opinions are valid enough. So, yes, I think that’s helped keep us together as a family.
Michael Horton: Braxton, thank you so much for taking the time to speak with me.
Braxton Coles: Shortly after the [murder], you know, everybody wants to know, everybody wants to hear, everybody wants to be seen with you. And then as time passes, you’ll be standing there, all alone. I refuse to let people forget that what was taken from us. So, any opportunity I get, I’ll call the media and invite them to our functions. I want to continue to update them on what Crash Out is doing for the community and what the communities do. The next time that happens, I reach out to you and let you know, because I refuse to let his memory die.
Michael Horton: Yes, sir, definitely. It sounds like Crash Out is doing some great things for Jarvon’s legacy, and obviously, whatever awareness can be brought to the situation that can move towards justice, you know, that’s very important.
Braxton Coles: Thank you. I really appreciate you. Thank you so much for reaching out to us.