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Martinus Mitchum liked three things.
He loved the church, where you could find him every Sunday and Thursday.
He loved children, even though he didn’t have any.
And he loved law enforcement, the career path he was so ambitious of and the one that ultimately led to his tragic death on Friday night.
Mitchum, a Tulane University police officer and 2nd City Court reserve officer, was working as a security guard during a basketball game at George Washington Carver High School when he was shot and killed. Mitchum died after intervening in an altercation between John Shallerhorn and a school administrator, and police said Shallerhorn later admitted to police that he shot Mitchum.
“It hurts because he was one of the best,” said Lyn Clark, a former football player at O. Perry Walker High School where Mitchum worked from 2006 to 2016. “They killed someone. one who has helped so many African American students to come out of there and become something. He has always supported everything. How to take the life of someone who has helped the lives of so many people who they believe do not wouldn’t it be anything? “
Clark, now 26, was one of those people Mitchum still watched over. But Mitchum, or “Mitch” as everyone called him, was watching everyone.
Everyone was “my son” or “my daughter” to him.
“We would always tease him and tell Mitch that you have more kids than anyone for being so young,” said Sheryl Eaglin, Mitchum’s former colleague.
Mitchum and Eaglin both started working at O. Perry Walker in 2006. It eventually became like family to her.
“He irritated me like a little brother at times, but he was so genuine and there was nothing he wouldn’t do for these kids,” Eaglin said.
Mitchum, originally from Detroit, was working on school security when he started. But it didn’t last long.
“We transferred him to other positions because of the way he dealt with the kids and his other skills,” said Tarance Davis, the school’s former athletic director. Mitchum was in charge of student data and registrations and also became the director of basketball and football operations.
In the 2013-2014 school year, O. Perry Walker merged with Landry High School to form Landry-Walker and the school won the State Basketball Championship in the first season. It was the first of three crown titles in four years for the school.
“We probably wouldn’t have these championships that we have in basketball without Mitch,” Davis said. “He just has a heart for the well-being of the children. He played a vital role in the organization and the administrative parts to put this program in place.”
Brian Gibson was the coach of these teams and said they couldn’t have done it without Mitchum, who took care of all the administrative tasks. He booked hotels on road trips, made food arrangements, and did all other behind-the-scenes chores.
“He was really in charge, making sure all of our activities were in place,” Gibson said. “We had a lot of success and a lot of that was because I didn’t have to worry about that sort of thing. You think of how many kids we were able to send to college. worked directly with them to make sure they had what they needed. and they respected him for that. It was nothing but love with him and the kids. expected certain things and wanted it to be done in a certain way and I think the kids enjoyed that about him. “
Because of his love for the church, many family members in his hometown of Detroit thought he would grow up to be a preacher. But law enforcement was his dream, so he pursued it. He graduated from the Slidell Police Department Basic Reserve Police Academy in 2014. He also spent time as an officer at Loyola University. “(Mitchum) was a dedicated police professional who had a heart of service to the Tulane community,” Tulane officials said in a statement on Saturday.
Mitchum, who was wearing the uniform at the time of the shooting, was taken to the university medical center by paramedics and was pronounced dead shortly after.
“The thing I was most proud of was seeing the escort as he got to the hospital,” Eaglin said of how the police cleared the way for the ambulance on the highway. “He deserves it. If you could choose how you could go, that would probably be what Mitch would have chosen with safety. He loved protecting people, like the kids who were inside that gym. We don’t know what. that might have happened if that person had entered the gym with a gun. “
Mitchum has often commented publicly on the state of law enforcement in the country. Just two days before his death, he wrote on Twitter that he supported requirements for officers to wear body cameras and favored revocation of their certification if they performed their jobs poorly or turned out to be racist.
On Thursday, he retweeted a message from Vice President Kamala Harris supporting the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, which is named after the man killed by Minneapolis police in 2020 and aims, among other things, to revise immunity qualified for law enforcement.
In their own statement, Carver officials called Mitchum a “must-see” at school sporting events and noted how he sacrificed his life to fulfill his duty.
“It is with a heavy heart… (that) we honor his memory,” Carver said.
“This is a tragic situation for … everyone who has had to go through this,” said Easton Chairman of the Board of Directors David Garland.
Journalists Ramon Antonio Vargas and Della Hasselle contributed to this report.
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