Amid rivers of tears and the sight of eyes swollen practically shut from grief or still blank in disbelief, Gabriel Baltimore tries to focus on the broad smile when he thinks about Letrell Duncan.
That’s been almost every moment without stop since the news of Letrell’s death from multiple gunshot wounds to the head Monday afternoon on an East Orange street, crowded with other youngsters walking home from school. The case of the 16-year-old’s murder is still under investigation and a $10,000 reward has been offered by the Essex County Sheriff’s Crime Stoppers Program for information leading to an arrest.
“I only want to think of good things, funny things, practice and locker room moments,” Baltimore said. “I do when I think of that smile.”
Baltimore is East Orange’s head basketball coach, and Letrell was a gifted guard on that team who was too talented to keep out of the varsity lineup as only a freshman last winter. He earned appreciable court time in the season-opener against North Brunswick, and was the starting point guard just a few games later.
Even then, Letrell – more commonly known as Trell to teammates and friends - showed a well-rounded skill package that helped a young squad succeed (finishing 15-9) and convinced Baltimore that he had a future Division 1 guard directing his backcourt. Still, the polished jump shots and passes were merely secondary features in Baltimore’s mind.
That was true during the 2021-22 season, with Letrell showing steady growth, while also being prone to some rookie mistakes. And it’s especially true now with him gone.
In fact, the first time Baltimore realized that Letrell’s sanguine personality was something unique was under a circumstance in which most kids his age would have been doing anything but smiling.
“We were in an intense game and he made a mistake, a bad turnover, and I went off on him. I had some (pause) instructional words for him. Everyone else in the huddle was kind of looking around uncomfortably,” Baltimore said.
“And Trell just smiled. He literally just looked at me and then started laughing. He goes, ‘All right, I got you, coach.’ It was that moment that I knew that the pressure just didn’t get to him; it didn’t get to his feelings. He just laughed and said, ‘I got you.’
“And no matter how hard I coached him – and I’m not an easy guy to play for – nine out of 10 times, that was his response. Smile and just go out and try to get the job done. He was a rare talent and just a great, great kid. A funny kid. He had a presence about him that was just different.”
The 6-2 guard averaged 7.5 points a game last season and had reached double figures seven times, including an 11-point outing Feb. 28 to help the Jaguars defeat North Star Academy of Newark, 50-49, in the first round of the North 1, Group 4 tournament. East Orange lost in the following round to Ridgewood.
Points were only a small part of Letrell’s effectiveness as a player, no matter how impressive for a 15-year old in one of the Super Essex Conference’s toughest divisions. Baltimore was always struck by the young man’s willingness to undertake hard, unglamorous roles without even being asked.
“He had the ‘It’ factor. He had the skill, that was obvious. He could handle, he could shoot, he could defend. Everyone could see that,” Baltimore said.
“He always wanted to take the toughest opponent matchup, whatever that was. If it was the top scoring guard, he’d be, ‘Put me on him, coach. I got ‘em.’ With a lot of student-athletes, you’ve got to make him take that challenge. With Letrell, I never had to say anything.
“If a kid got going and scored two or three buckets on us, the next time I’d look up, I would see Trell fighting in the post against the Payne Tech center. I’m like, ‘Trell, what are you doing?’ He just goes, ‘I got ‘em, coach, I got ‘em.’
“That’s the toughness and competitive edge ghat you just can’t teach.”
Letrell’s AAU coaches at Garden State Bounce saw those same qualities of toughness and leadership and expressed their admiration in an Instagram post on the day of his murder. He enjoyed a prosperous summer, many times at tournaments in front of college coaches, and had helped East Orange to a 2-0 start so far in the Bloomfield Fall League.
Where was Letrell’s game headed, in Baltimore’s estimation?
“He definitely would be a scholarship kid. We had conversations about that, in particular about planning for his college future and what he needed to do to get to the next level – from game-wise, to his body, to academics; the whole package about what was necessary to get to that level because I really felt the sky was the limit for him potentially,” Baltimore said.
“I just felt it was his time and we needed to have those conversations. It was his time to really step it up as far as being a leader,” Baltimore said. “He had the comfort of some older guys, some seniors, last year. So that leadership role had to turn more vocal and be the guy to get things going and pick the other guys up.
“He was saying he was ready to do that. He was ready to step up.”
That last conversation took place Monday morning. Later that day, Letrell was pronounced dead at University Hospital in Newark.
Suddenly, the East Orange teammates Letrell had vowed to guide only a few hours earlier were stunned and in agony. Some may even have witnessed the shooting.
“It’s not normal. This is something that people their age should never have to go through,” Baltimore said. “We’ll get through it together as a family.”
It will be during the toughest of those times when Baltimore will use the memory of Letrell’s engaging personality and that bright and sometimes satirical smile to pull himself and his players through.
“Trell definitely left an impression on my life. He definitely made coaching fun,” Baltimore said. “At times it gets so competitive. I’m an intense guy, but a kid like Letrell reminds you of what’s important: the kids having fun and having a good time being around each other.
“That’s what I’ll remember the most about him, In addition to what a rare talent he was.”
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Mike Kinney can be reached at mkinney@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @MikeKinneyHS.
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