This story is part of The Dallas Morning News’ homicide project focused on sharing the stories of all people killed in Dallas in 2024.

Denzel Branch wasn’t a sports savant when he started coaching his kids, but he was eager to learn and support them, so he worked at it — as long and as hard as he expected them to play.

Branch would get them to practice and start running drills before their teammates arrived. When they were at home, he would talk strategy and study YouTube videos to find out new ways to improve.

As much as he pushed them to be the best, Shaderia Traylor, the mother of his first son Royce, said he never let his expectations outweigh his encouragement.

Once, during a game of flag football, Royce was tackled by another kid, knocking him to the ground. Branch rushed over to his crying son, asking where it hurt, Traylor recalled.

After Branch checked Royce out and realized he wasn’t injured, he laid down in the grass beside him and waited until he was ready. Only then did they get up together.

This and other memories, Traylor said, are all Royce has left of his dad.

Branch, a 31-year-old youth minister at New Generation Church in Oak Cliff, had just finished Easter Sunday service when he got into an argument down the street that spurred deadly gunfire. His children watched it unfold from his car.

The alleged gunman, 30-year-old Joshua Andrews later turned himself in to police. Traylor said Branch had known Andrews for over a decade and, at one point, even called him a brother.

Andrews told investigators his relationship with Branch’s ex-wife created conflict between them. He said Branch didn’t have any weapons. He said he shouldn’t have shot him.

“It was so senseless,” Traylor said. “It shouldn’t have happened.”

Heart-to-Heart

Cory Shaw said it’s hard to grasp losing a friend in this way. He doesn’t understand, but as a man of faith himself, Shaw said he’s choosing to trust God’s will.

Shaw and Branch met a few years back, when Royce and Branch’s stepson Daniel joined the DeSoto Elites, a youth baseball team Shaw refounded after playing on it as a child. Branch tagged along as a co-coach.

“I’m the coach, of course, so I always get to practice early,” Shaw said. “Denzel, Dan and Royce, they beat me to practice.”

Branch became such a popular coach that other parents would ask if their kids could train with him outside of regular practice.

But it wasn’t all training. Branch would crack jokes throughout practice and sometimes break out a backflip, Shaw recalled. He also had a beautiful singing voice and loved to dance.

Shaw said a strong friendship grew between them during their years coaching together through heart-to-heart talks about family and faith. He watched in awe as Branch got more involved with his church.

“Oh my gosh, he loved that church,” Shaw said. “He wanted to be at practice, but I already knew if it was between practice and church, which I understood because I’m a man of faith as well, he’s going to choose church.”

A father as well, Shaw said Branch’s death has put so much of his life into perspective. When Shaw is holding his daughter or watching her laugh, a pang in his chest reminds him Branch will never experience those things again.

“It just hurts, because there’s so much that he’s going to be missing out on,” he said. “I know if he was here, that probably would be the thing that he would miss more, that he would hurt more about, is not being able to be here for his kids.”

‘Broken’

Royce, who witnessed the shooting, has agonized over whether or not he could’ve saved his dad.

Traylor, his mom, said he still sends Branch occasional texts, even though they go unanswered. He’s been anxious about haircuts, because his dad used to cut his hair for him. It’s been an adjustment, not having his dad pick him up for weekends.

After all the time they spent practicing sports, Royce decided he wants to honor Branch by making it to the NFL or MLB.

“Some days he gets up and he fully functions, he plays, he’ll talk about anything else, and there are some days he’s just kinda empty, just really broken,” Traylor said. “He’s trying.”

It has weighed on Traylor to watch her son figure out how to cope with such a loss, just as it has been painful to lose the friendship she and Branch had been rebuilding.

After they separated, Traylor said they maintained a cordial relationship but weren’t close. She noticed Branch changing in recent years and told him she was proud that they had both matured and grown, which led to unexpected conversations about the past and a deeper bond.

“I was just so proud to say ‘Yeah, that’s my son’s dad,’” she said.

Traylor will remember Branch as the kind of man who tried to turn every bad situation around with a smile, someone who was always offering to show up for her and Royce.

When she went into labor with her daughter a few months ago, Branch was eager to help, but also made sure to add he wasn’t trying to overstep. She said his support helped her laugh through the pain.

“It’s hard to process that there won’t be any more jokes when he calls,” Traylor said. “I’m essentially doing this without him and it’s hard — every day is hard.

“And then I look at my son, and he looks just like him.”