Teen’s arrest ‘tearing up’ dad

Just the thought of cooking Wednesday made Gerald Lamont Davison sick to his stomach.

His 16-year-old son, Gerald Quashawn Davison, is charged in last week's drive-by shooting death of 15-year-old Palo Verde High School student Christopher Privett.

"I can't deal with food today," the casino chef said, nervously taking one drag after another on a cigarette as he sat outside his second-floor North Las Vegas apartment. "This thing with my son is just tearing me up, man. It's tearing up my family. I had to take a vacation day. I can't concentrate."

Gerald Quashawn Davison is being held in the Clark County juvenile detention center on charges of murder, attempted murder and firing a weapon from a moving vehicle.

An arrest report released Wednesday revealed that he had confessed to shooting from a car at four youths as they walked down Alta Drive near Palo Verde High School on Friday.

A girl in the car said the shooting, which Gerald Quashawn Davison told police was supposed to scare the foursome, was in retaliation for gang signs being directed toward her.

"My son told me he didn't do any shooting, and I believe him," said Gerald Lamont Davison, who held his son's hand and cried with him during an arraignment Tuesday. "He also told me his life was threatened by gang members two weeks ago."

The younger Davison has largely lived with his mother, Shanna Morris, since he was a young child. She went to court several times, records show, to obtain child support from the elder Davison.

The teen's father is now married to a woman who came outside twice Wednesday to tell her husband to keep his "goddamn mouth shut."

"What the hell is wrong with you?" she said. "Get that (expletive) out of here."

"She doesn't like the way this is affecting our family," Davison said after his wife went inside.

Gerald Lamont Davison, who said he's tried to set a good example for his son, has no idea where the teen could have gotten a weapon.

"I'm a good father," he said. "I don't drink or use drugs. I do smoke these -- cigarettes."

In November, however, the elder Davison had problems with firearms, alcohol and drugs. He was arrested by North Las Vegas police Nov. 29 for discharging an assault rifle that sent a bullet through his apartment wall and into a neighbor's dining room. He told police it was an accident. When officers searched his apartment, they also found a .38-caliber revolver under his mattress.

The area under the mattress also had "numerous 24 ounce cans" of beer and an almost-empty 200-milliliter bottle of Hennessy cognac, according to the arrest report. The report said a woman who gave Gerald Lamont Davison the bottle of cognac "could not believe" he had almost finished it in less than an hour.

The report also said Gerald Lamont Davison is a registered felon for carrying a concealed weapon and had prior arrests for domestic battery. It said he told police that what he did was "stupid." Officers, who said he smelled of alcohol, also found 3 grams of marijuana in his pocket.

"Hey, I was smoking it," he told police, according to the arrest report. "I don't sell it or distribute that weed. I just smoke some of that."

Gerald Lamont Davison faces a preliminary hearing March 25 on one charge of discharging a firearm at or into a structure, two counts of an ex-felon in possession of a firearm, possession of a firearm while under the influence of alcohol and drugs, possession of narcotic paraphernalia and possession of marijuana under 1 ounce.

He doesn't want to talk about his recent problems with the law. "I've tried to raise my children right," he said. "I've only been in jail twice, and I'm 34 years old. How many other (expletives) can say that?"

He believes he will have to move from his apartment soon.

"If you can find me, so can the KKK," he told a reporter. "From what I hear around town, people are trying to turn this thing with my son into a racial thing. All I know is that some gangbangers wanted to kill my son."

The stress, he said, is difficult for a father to deal with.

"I'm so tired," he said. "Put yourself in my shoes. How would you like your son to go to jail for a hundred years for something he didn't do? How would you like the KKK-ers coming after you?"

Contact reporter Paul Harasim at pharasim@reviewjournal.com or (702) 387-2908.