Thread: D.J. Moore Grieves Brothers Death............

Moore struggles with brother's killing


Eddie Moore III shot to death in Atlanta; details unclear

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D.J. Moore takes the field before the start of the NFC Championship game against the Packers. (Nuccio DiNuzzo, McClatchy-Tribune / January 23, 2011)



By Vaughn McClure, Chicago Tribune reporter 1:36 p.m. CDT, July 16, 2011


He missed the initial call. Then the follow-up. And a few calls after that.

Eventually, D.J. Moore awoke early the morning of May 8 to frantic text messages from his sister and his older brother's wife.




Eddie Moore III was dead.

D.J. Moore couldn't believe it. Couldn't be his brother. He had to see for himself.

Twelve hours later, when he finished the drive from Lake Bluff to his hometown of Spartanburg, S.C., with his girlfriend, D.J. Moore knew the terrible truth.

"What did he mean to me? Everything," Moore said. "I wouldn't say he taught me how to play, but when he was playing, I was playing. He was better than I was in basketball. Athletically, we were like the same."

Eddie Moore III was killed May 7 during a quadruple shooting near Morrow, an Atlanta suburb. He was 25. Two other men died in the incident. A fourth was hospitalized.

While Clayton County police officer John Schneller said details of the shootings will not be released while the case is being investigated,, the Clayton News Daily newspaper reported that county officer Tina Daniel said, "this crime was not 'stranger-on-stranger.' "

Moore feels almost certain drugs had something to do with his brother's death.

"I've heard so many stories," he said. "When you're pretty much in somebody else's neighborhood in a shootout, it's not going to go that well."

In 2008, Eddie served three years in federal prison for distributing crack cocaine. When the Bears played at the Carolina Panthers last season, he was recently released from jail and watched his brother play for the first time since high school.

"If you don't want to be (in jail), you've got to change what you're doing," he told the Tribune that day. "You do the same thing again and you're going to be back. … I don't want to go back."

Eddie was buried May 14 at Lincoln Memorial Gardens in Spartanburg. He left behind his wife, a son and a distraught younger brother.

"Yes, initially, I cried. But not at the funeral," Moore said. "At the funeral, you could see my mom, my little brother and everybody was crying, and you have to have somebody sit there and be strong for everybody."

He has been that person in the family through many breakdowns.

His mother, Doris, continues to battle her addiction to crack cocaine with mixed results. In a story last November, she told the Tribune: "I'm open to rehab, but it's too expensive, for one. And a lot of it is just a mind thing. Sometimes, rehab can help. Sometimes, it can hurt."

Her addiction follows in a life in which she was diagnosed with cancer at 17 and watched her ex-husband and three of four children go to prison. When she was a teen, her sister was murdered in Florida.

She is back in South Carolina, coping with her most recent loss.

"Initially, she was set back a little bit, but now she's fine," D.J. said. He remains patient with her recovery from drug abuse.

"It just takes time," he said. "That's a drug like no other, and it all depends on how she progresses on her own. Some days, she's good. Other days, you're like, 'Ah, come on, mom.'

"I felt like, with Eddie dying, things could either get better or worse for her. You would think she'd look and say, 'Eddie got killed doing this, and I'm kinda doing the same type of thing.' "

Soon, Moore hopes to get back to balancing his responsibilities to his family with those to his team. But with the NFL lockout dragging on through Moore's latest ordeal and no contact allowed between coaches and players, Lovie Smith was unaware until a Tribune reporter relayed the news Friday. Initial reports of the shootings did not connect any of the victims to the third-year NFL player.

"I feel terrible for D.J.," Smith said. "Nothing is more important to D.J. than family. Look at what he's doing with his mother. I'm sure he's doing that with all his family."

When he returns to the field this fall, Moore will carry Eddie's memory with him in a tattoo on his right arm.

"All he ever talked about was me playing football," Moore said. "He never asked me for nothing. He didn't want nothing. He just wanted to talk football. So I'm just going to go out there and play these games for him."

vxmcclure@tribune.com

Twitter @vxmcclure23