A Day of Discovery: A Look Back

Feb. 5, 2010, is a day that will live in infamy in the minds, hearts and souls of every man, woman and child in the city of Madison.

What started out as a normal Friday morning ended with one child murdered at Discovery Middle School and another child in custody, charged with the heinous crime.

Hammad Memon, 15, has been charged with murder, and authorities allege the teen shot and killed classmate Todd Brown, 14, in a Discovery Middle hallway.

Brown’s aunt, Tangela Baptiste, was eating lunch and shopping with the boy’s mother, Tawanda Moore, when a call came in to Moore’s phone from the Madison Police.

Since she didn’t recognize the number, she didn’t answer, but the police quickly followed with a call to Baptiste’s cell while the pair was shopping at Burlington Coat Factory.

“The look on her face was so devastating,” Baptiste said. “She dropped the phone.”

While the pair raced to the hospital, police officials were still sorting out the pieces at the crime scene.

Madison Police Chief Larry Muncey was traveling back from a meeting in Montgomery when he received a text from his son Jake, then an eighth-grader at Discovery.

“Dad, someone’s been shot,” the text read.

“To say I’m terrified is the biggest understatement in the world,” Muncey said.

Muncey immediately contacted his son, assessed the situation and instructed his son to stay in lockdown, and he would be there as soon as possible.

After contacting Capt. Jim Cooke, Muncey was informed the alleged shooter had been identified and apprehended. Within a minute of the shooting, witnesses identified the suspect as the shooter, and within two minutes he was detained by administrators.

Within three minutes the suspect was in custody by police, and authorities were quickly able to determine the shooting was an isolated incident.

The Aftermath

Superintendent Dr. Dee Fowler was preparing for a Saturday work session when he received a call from a Discovery assistant principal informing him of the shooting.

“I was very angry because I thought the information had been misinterpreted and I was going to get over there and be upset,” Fowler said. “But as soon as I walked in and saw the yellow tape, I knew we had a serious situation.”

Mayor Paul Finley was meeting with a city council member when he received the call from Fire Chief Ralph Cobb.

“When I got there and assessed the situation, I went car to car to assure the parents that the kids were safe,” Finley said. “Everyone had a different emotion from crying to hugging me. That’s when it really hit me.”

Discovery Principal Sharon Willis was in route to the hospital when city and school officials arrived, as she was near the scene when the shooting occurred. Willis was walking toward the ninth-grade hall during a class break when she heard the shots. Being familiar with the sound of a gunshot, she knew exactly what the sound was as students began running and screaming toward her.

“Going through my mind was yelling at them to get in a classroom, lock down, and then get to where it happened,” Willis said. “My first thought was to go straight where I knew the situation was because I didn’t want anybody to get hurt. Kids were coming toward me and I knew there was a situation and I’m going against the flow with them. It was to take care of my kids and that’s what’s going to be forefront on any principal’s mind, because you know how parents depend on you to keep their kids safe.

“They should walk in school and be safe,” she added.

Saying Goodbye

Upon arrival at the hospital, Baptiste and Moore were quickly taken to a private room, where a surgeon confirmed that doctors had done all they could do.

“It was immediate,” Baptiste said. “We didn’t really have time to prepare. It was really devastating.”

Word quickly spread throughout Brown’s tight-knit family.

“When (Tangela) said he got shot in the back of the head, I lost it,” said Lucille Hurst, Brown’s grandmother. “I already knew he was gone.”

Hurst quickly shared the word with her sister, Malinda Allen.

“I didn’t imagine something like that could happen,” Allen said. “It’s still a shock.”

In the days that followed, city, school and faith leaders gathered to declare a message of unity throughout the community.

“Everybody pitched in,” Fowler said. “In the city of Madison, instead of pointing fingers, the city embraced us. The entire community embraced each other.”

On Saturday morning, leaders met to put a plan in motion, and on Sunday a community meeting was held.

At that meeting was Lincoln County High School (Tenn.) Principal Jim Stewart, who also endured a shooting at his school more than a decade ago.

“He said, ‘We don’t want this behind us, we don’t want this in front of us, we want to carry this beside us,” Fowler said of Stewart. “This is something that will never leave a kid. That day will forever be engrained in their memories.”

Students returned to class the following Monday, but normalcy of everyday school life would last only temporarily.

Brown was put to rest Friday, Feb. 12, the same day another shooting rocked the county’s educational community when University of Alabama-Huntsville professor Amy Bishop shot and killed three coworkers, while also critically wounding three others.