SOUTH LOS ANGELES—On December 26, 2019, Dayvon Taylor, 6, from South Los Angeles, was pronounced dead at the St. Mary’s Medical Center in Long Beach from “severe injuries,” announced the Downey Police Department in a press release.

Taylor was in the care of Tyler D’Shaun-Martin Brand, 23, who was his coach and godfather. The child was not breathing and was transported to the hospital where he later died. Funeral services for Taylor were held on January 11, 2020 in Inglewood, California.

According to police reports, Brand was taking care of the child over the holiday break at his apartment when the incident occurred. He was an acquaintance of the child’s mother. The two reportedly had a close relationship.

“The is a senseless act by a person who calls himself a coach, all I know is that this guy explained that he tried to chastise my son,” said Taylor’s father, David Nicholson.

Brand was charged with two counts of murder and assault on a child causing death on December 30, 2019, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office. The boy died on after allegedly being severely beaten by Brand at his Downey apartment,  prosecutors said.

The defendant’s bail was recommended at $2 million. If convicted as charged, Brand faces a maximum sentence of 25 years to life in state prison. The case remains under investigation by the Downey Police Department.

Brand was a member of the Los Angeles Unified School District’s Beyond The Bell, after-school program at Normandie Avenue Elementary School. He was known as “Coach Ty” to children and faculty members.