West Baltimore Residents Share Stories About Freddie Gray
BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- In the West Baltimore neighborhood where Freddie Gray grew up, people remember who he was before the nation knew his name.
Marcus Washington has the story.
If you ask about Freddie Gray around the Gilmor Homes community, you will get a smile and a story.
"I remember I [saw] him out here and it was hot that day. He said, `What up, Ma?' I said, `What's going on, little one?' He said, `Nothing, what are you doing?' I said, `Trying to get me a soda. He said, `Here go my last $5, go get you something to drink," said Gray's friend, Melissa Ealey.
On April 12, the 5'10", 145 pound man was arrested by Baltimore City police. He never returned to his neighborhood and died seven days later.
"He was a typical Sandtown kid," Sean Price told the Associated Press. "He wasn't perfect, but neither is anybody. This isn't anything new. Freddie Gray is just a microcosm of what happens every day in Sandtown, in Baltimore."
As a boy, friends told the AP, Gray loved to play sports and played football at Carver Vocational-Technical High School.
Click here for the latest on the investigation into Freddie Gray's death.
Gray's friend William Stewart, who had known him for 20 years, told the AP he, "laughed all day and smiled all the time."
"He had that spark," he said.
While many people in the community smile as they reminisce about Freddie Gray, none deny he had a criminal past.
"He also had his troubles, but so does everybody," Stewart said. "I have a criminal record. But if I'm walking down the street minding my own business and the police kill me, does that have anything to do with it?"
Since 2007, the 25-year-old had been arrested many times for crimes including drugs, second-degree assault, illegal gambling and violating probation.
"It's not right to sell drugs. It's not right to do any of that. It's not right to break the law, but I look at it like this: you were not given the right to give him life; what gave you the right to take it away? Whether you have a badge or not, it's not your place," Ealey said.
"One of the biggest problem that [he] and I used to talk about is how guys come out of prison and come on the street because they can't get jobs because of the system," said Reverend Keith Bailey.
Bailey supervised Gray's probation work at a food pantry for 90 days before he was arrested.
"He worked in the food pantry here; he helped sweep here in the community and he was dedicated," Bailey said.
"People say, `Do you think it's going to change?' No, I don't think anything is going to change," Ealey said. "[I'm scared for] my brothers, my cousins, my fiance. It makes me scared for everybody."
Days have passed, but the pain for a lot of people in the community still exists.
Stay with WJZ and CBSBaltimore.com for the latest on this developing story.