Armwood High Chaplain Coach Reflects on Tavari Grant's Arrest in Brito Deaths

Ron Ellis was in his Seffner office when he first learned that a boy who years earlier had sat inside Ellis' chapel with his Armwood High School football teammates, now sat inside a jail cell facing charges of murder.

Tavari Grant, 18, who last suited up as a Hawk in 2008, was arrested June 9 and charged with two counts of murder and home invasion robbery.  He is accused of walking into a South Tampa home June 5 and fatally shooting Robinson High School student Kiara Brito, 16, and her brother, Jeremi, 13, a student at Madison Middle School.

“I was at my office at my ministry, Exalted Word Ministries, when I was reading about it on the Internet and they showed (Tavari’s) picture,” said Ellis, in a June 11 interview.

Looking at the picture, “I said, ‘Boy, he looks familiar,' " Ellis said. "Then, I went back and read the story and said, ‘Yeah, that’s Tavari.’  I was thinking, ‘Here’s a guy who lost hope.’ ”

Elllis is a 32-year veteran of the Hillsborough County School District, a coach now at Burnett Middle School, with stints also at Franklin Middle School, for 18 years, and Dowdell Middle School, for a short time early on in his career.

He also serves as the team motivator and chaplain coach for the Armwood High School football team in Seffner, which is how Grant happened to be in Ellis' ministry in 2008.

“I invited the whole football team to my church for a cookout so I can connect to these boys, not only on a football level but also on a spiritual level,” Ellis said.

Hearing about Grant’s charges forces him to review such crimes at a spiritual level, he said.

“What is the root behind these things to cause a person to take an innocent life?” he said. “That’s a sad thing. That hurts me, those things that set the traps and deceptions that the enemy uses to destroy life.”

The Tampa Tribune reprted that Grant was a running back for Armwood  before transferring to Tampa Bay Tech for his senior year; he  was named to the Tampa Tribune's All-Hillsborough County Football Team in 2008 following his junior year.  

“Everybody on the team hurts, it affects the whole team no matter what,” Ellis said. “That’s what we are, we’re a family team.”

He said he had not heard from students, coaches or teachers about Grant’s arrest, but that wouldn’t have been the case had it happened earlier in the school year, and especially during football season. The arrest came the last week of school -- and after seniors already had collected their diplomas at graduation.

"You can’t ignore it was a person you came in contact with," he said. "A person you talked to, a person you coached, a person you laughed with, a person you lost games with, a person you celebrated with.”

One thing is certain in Ellis’ mind, he said, and especially so if Grant is found guilty.

“I don’t know all the facts. I can’t say he did it, the law will prove that,” Ellis said. “I just wish he could have called me. I just wish he could have stayed connected to me.”

In the end, a coach can mentor, a chaplain can guide, a teacher can teach, but “everybody has a will,” Ellis said. “No matter what we do, they’re still going to make their choices and the hope is that they will make the right choices.”

WTSP.com reports that a memorial fund has been set up to help pay for funeral arrangements the Britos. Donations can be made to any Wachovia/Wells Fargo Bank in the name of Kiara and Jeremi Brito. Money left over will be used for a scholarship in the teens' names.

RELATED COVERAGE:

• Memorial Held for Siblings Kiara and Jeremi Brito / WTSP.com
• Friends, Family Celebrate Slain Tampa Teens' Lives / TBO.com
•  / Brandon Patch