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Friday, Oct. 23, 2009

Shooting victim dreamed of music career

A gentle giant.

That's the way Derrick Bateman's friends and relatives remember him.

"He was just a big, big bear," recalled his friend and co-worker, Donnie Tonelli. "He's probably one of the biggest people I've ever met, and he was also one of the nicest."

Bateman, who was 26, was shot to death inside his Merced apartment last weekend in what appears to have been a robbery-murder. Police have yet to arrest any suspects.

In interviews Thursday, Bateman's friends and relatives described him as kind, responsible, hard-working and fun.

A Merced High School graduate, he worked at Rent-A-Center on Main Street as an assistant manager. He took pride in the fact that he lived on his own in what his friends considered the ideal bachelor pad. He'd recently bought a new car -- a Dodge Charger -- that he jokingly described to his mother as just right for impressing girls.

He dreamed of becoming a recording star or professional song writer. He loved composing and rapping lyrics, playing video games, hanging out with friends and eating. Among his favorite foods was pizza from Pizza Villa.

At 6-foot-6 and 400-plus pounds, Bateman had always been big, said his mother, Joyce Wert, of Merced. "It's the first thing everybody probably noticed about him," she explained. "As a joke we always called him our little guy. But really the best way to describe him is as a gentle giant."

Bateman was born in Bossier City, La., on April 7, 1983. He was raised as an only child by a single mother serving in the U.S. Air Force. They moved to Merced to be near her family in 1986.

Bateman attended Sheehy Elementary School and Rivera and Tenaya middle schools, his mother said. He graduated from Merced High in 2001. Friends said he loved sports and spent his middle school years as a wrestler. He played football his freshman year, but stopped because of a heart problem.

He worked through high school at KFC and Gunrunner. After graduation he trained for a class-A drivers license and spent a year as a trucker, quickly giving it up because he hated being away from family and friends, his mother said.

"He was a very warm, open-hearted person," she said. "He needed to be around people to be happy." She described him as especially close to his grandmother and several of his cousins.

Bateman had worked at Rent-A-Center for almost three years, said Tonelli, his co-worker. "He took his job seriously, and he was good at it," he said. "A lot of people have come through the store in the last few days saying that they're really going to miss him."

Bateman was unfailingly neat and always kept his apartment clean and ready for guests, Tonelli said, adding that Bateman frequently invited friends over for video games and beers.

"He was just a lot of fun. My kids loved hanging out with him at the store," he said. "And girls loved him, too."

Hector Vasquez, who became friends with Bateman in the fourth grade, said he enjoyed going to concerts and writing lyrics and poetry. "He was always carrying a notebook to write stuff down when he thought of it," he said. "He was creative."

Friends and relatives said Bateman had recently begun a regimen to lose weight, regularly going to the gym and carefully watching his diet. He had a deal with a friend and another with his mom and stepdad: "We told him we'd give him $100 for every 10 pounds he lost," Wert said. "We just wanted him to be healthy because we didn't want to lose him young.

"We still can't believe this happened to him."

Bateman died sometime last Friday. A relative discovered his body Saturday afternoon inside his second-floor unit at the Ridgeview Meadows apartment complex on the corner of Childs and Parsons avenues. He'd been shot and was lying on his bed.

Police have been tight-lipped about the circumstances surrounding his murder but Bateman's friends and relatives said they understand that whoever killed him also robbed him, taking his car and other belongings from inside his apartment.

His mother said he had friends over for a small gathering the night before he died, then failed to show up for work the next morning. "It was weird because it wasn't like him to be late like that," Tonelli said. "I called his phone but it just went to voicemail. He never called back. I still can't believe it. We all miss him so much."

Neighbors said the dark brown, gated complex where the shooting took place is usually quiet and safe. They reported seeing nothing suspicious except a screen from Bateman's front window that had been popped out and left lying nearby.

Authorities have declined to say how many times he was shot. His death is the city's fifth homicide this year and the 17th in Merced County.

Bateman is survived by his mother and stepfather; his father, Robert Barry Bateman of Falls Church, Va.; his grandmother, Neomia Graham; two half-brothers; and dozens of aunts, uncles, cousins and friends.

He will be buried today at Merced District Cemetery.

Anyone wishing to make donations in Bateman's memory should send them to the Merced Police Department Toys for Tots program or the U.S. Marine Corps Toys for Tots program.

Anyone with information on his death should call Sgt. Scott Skinner at (209) 385-4702, or the Merced Police Department's anonymous tipline at (209) 385-4725.

Reporter Corinne Reilly can be reached at (209)385-2477 or creilly@mercedsun-star.com.