Friends and family pack church to honor 'an innocent soul'

Jarret Marque Crump’s favorite sports team was not in doubt at a packed Inglewood church last Friday morning.

Dara Oliver, his mother, wore a Dallas Cowboys tie, matching her husband and the pallbearers sitting in the front rows. One mourner wore a Cowboys scarf; another a Cowboys sweatshirt. A wreath of blue flowers near Crump’s casket formed the Cowboys’ star logo.

During the funeral, many of the memories people shared about Crump circled back to his love of the Cowboys and how he let everyone know about it. But even more people focused on how fun-loving the 21-year-old Los Angeles Unified School District custodian was, which made the circumstances around his death tough to accept.

“My little brother did not deserve this,” Nathan Oliver said during the procession. “He was an innocent soul. There’s a saying – you live by the sword, you die by the sword. Jarret didn’t live by the sword.”

Crump died Nov. 25 after being shot while in his idling car in heavy traffic in South L.A. 

The nearly 500 people at the funeral at First Church of God Center of Hope filled every seat.

“I can’t get this many people to show up for Sunday Mass,” Pastor Darryl Beard joked as he spoke to the crowd.

Brothers and step-brothers gave emotional speeches about Crump, the youngest child in the large family.

“The only word I can use to describe Jarret is animated,” brother Gregory Oliver Jr. said. “Like a cartoon. He was funny.”

Dara Oliver smiled and turned her attention to those who cried while saying goodbye to Crump at his casket. A few days earlier, it was Oliver who wept at a news conference held by detectives looking for witnesses in Crump’s death.

Shaun Alexander, a classmate of Crump's in elementary school, made T-shirts for the day with another friend.

On the front was a picture of Crump with the phrase “Once a Sentinel, always a Sentinel.”

The back read like a jersey with Crump’s name and the No. 6 – a single-digit number saved for standouts on their youth football team, the Inglewood Sentinels.

Alexander hadn’t seen Crump in a few months but knew he could find him at a local roller rink every Tuesday night.

Family members said Crump avoided using his car. Even for trips to the grocery store, Crump preferred to go by skateboard, beach cruiser or roller skates.

A group is planning a trip to the rink in Crump’s honor this week.

“I don’t even skate, but I’ll go for him,” Alexander said. 

-- Ryan Menezes

Photo, above: Dara and Gregory Oliver take a moment after seeing their son for the last time. Photo, right: Crump's casket is carried out of First Church of God Center of Hope in Inglewood after a funeral service Friday, Dec. 6. Credit: Christina House/For the Los Angeles Times