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January 26, 2018
Two St. Pius X Classical Academy students were killed on Friday, Jan. 12, Samma’Rie Daniel, 8, and Sa’Maii Daniel, 5. Sa’Mii had just joined the kindergarten class the week she died. Her classmates made cards for the Daniel family, seen in the box above. Pictures of the Daniel girls can be seen on the front of the program from their funeral, held Jan. 20. Photo by Theresa Laurence The St. Pius X Classical Academy community is mourning the loss of two students who had just transferred into the school, their lives tragically cut short by gun violence.
“They had so much promise and potential, it’s just gut-wrenching,” St. Pius Principal Lori Patton said of the Daniel sisters, Samma’Rie, 8, and Sa’Maii, 5.
Patton was shocked when she learned that the two young girls, who had just moved back to Tennessee from Georgia with their mother DarNykka Daniel McCray, were shot and killed on Jan. 12, allegedly by McCray’s stepson Queshan Brooks, 24.
McCray was also critically injured in the shooting, but is expected to recover.
According to local news reports, police say Brooks first opened fire on his stepmother McCray, 45, and her two daughters Friday afternoon, Jan. 12, at a residence on Jenkins Court in Nashville.
Brooks was arrested and charged with three counts of murder, for the killings of the Daniel girls and of 70-year-old Robert Payne, whom he allegedly shot and killed during a carjacking.
“Your greatest fear as an educator is to lose a student,” said Patton, and losing the two sisters “in such a horrific situation,” has shaken the school, she said.
DarNykka McCray, who attended St. Pius as a child, according to Patton, had just enrolled her daughters in the school days before they were killed. They were quickly embraced by the school community, Patton said. “Once you’re at St. Pius, you’re part of our school family.”
St. Pius X Classical Academy, located in the Bordeaux area of Nashville, serves children in pre-K3 through eighth grade, but is the smallest school in the Diocese of Nashville, with only 65 students. “Since we’re such a close-knit school, we’ve all been supporting each other,” Patton said.
When Patton confirmed the news about the Daniel girls over the weekend, she emailed St. Pius parents to inform them, leaving it up to parents how much information they wanted to give their children about the nature of the girls’ deaths.
Both Patton and St. Pius parish administrator Father Phillip Halladay spoke at a public memorial service for the girls, held at Hartman Park, across the street from St. Pius, on Monday, Jan. 15, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. She spoke about how “sweet, smart and spiritual the girls were,” she said, and Father Halladay assured those gathered that they were in heaven. “It was a peaceful moment and I think it brought some comfort to the community,” Patton said.
Like all schools in the Nashville area, St. Pius was closed for most of the week due to snow and ice. They were able to re-open on Friday, Jan. 19, which was the first time the school community had all been back together since they heard the news. They celebrated Mass together, offering intentions for the Daniel family, and prayed a rosary together for the family, Patton said.
“Our faith has helped tremendously,” said Patton. “The saving grace is we can talk about heaven. Without that, I don’t know how we would process this with the children.”
On Friday, and during the next week, school counselors from Catholic Charities of Tennessee and priests were available to talk with students, teachers and parents if needed, Patton said.
The Daniel girls’ homeroom classes each made cards for their mother DarNykka McCray and put them in a keepsake box, which will be delivered soon. The eighth grade also plans to plant a tree in their memory when the weather is warmer, Patton said.
The Daniel family was not Catholic, but wanted to be in a small Christian school environment, Patton said, and the girls had previously attended a similar school in Georgia. “They were both very smart, bright young girls. They instantly fit into our community,” she said.
Patton and other members of the St. Pius community attended the girls’ funeral, or “home going celebration,” held Saturday, Jan. 20, at Greater St. John Missionary Baptist Church in Nashville. The program described Samma’Rie and Sa’Maii as: “the ‘bread and butta sisters,’ because when you saw one you saw the other one. They always dressed alike, they were the apple of their mother’s eye, there was nothing she wouldn’t do for them.”
“Something like this just cuts you to the core,” Patton said.