Gunshot Victim’s Brief Life Full of Pain

Dantrell Davis died before he learned to spell or read. But in seven short years, he learned far too much about pain.

Dantrell suffered burns on half his body this spring when he was left alone in his Cabrini-Green apartment. Fire officials said he was playing with matches. He endured months of physical therapy.

Dantrell’s mother, Annette Freeman, was accused of child neglect, but the charges later were dropped, officials said.

The boy was murdered Oct. 13 by a sniper aiming an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle with a scope from a 10th-floor window. The little boy was walking with his mother from their home to school.

A month before Dantell’s death, his father, Kevin, 27, died of complications from an asthma attack, according to family members.

Dantrell, called Danny, liked to play ball and cops and robbers games. Relatives say he was independent, but sweet with a dazzling smile.

Dantrell was a first-grader at Jenner School and had missed just one day of class. He was a special education student who would sit mesmerized while his teacher read books to the class.

“I had just convinced Danny I could teach him how to read and how to spell,” said Richard Meyers, his teacher. “I’m sorry he didn’t get a chance to learn what life was all about, to read and progress to the point of being something in society.”