Dinerral Shavers

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Shavers while in Europe with the Hot 8

A New Orleanian holds a banner remembering Shavers and filmmaker Helen Hill at the anti-violence march on City Hall

Dinerral "Dick" Shavers (born c. 1981, died 28 December 2006) was a jazz drummer and educator from New Orleans, Louisiana.

Shavers was best known musically as a member of the Hot 8 Brass Band. He also taught at a local high school and created music programs for poor local youths.

He appeared in the Spike Lee film When the Levees Broke discussing the devastation of his family home in the Lower 9th Ward

According to The Times-Picayune:

Dinerral Shavers, 25, died from a gunshot to the back of his head at about 5:30 p.m. while behind the wheel of his black Chevrolet Malibu in the 2200 block of Dumaine Street… His family was not injured… Although critically wounded, Shavers continued driving four blocks up Dumaine before stopping. By 6 p.m., Shavers lay motionless on his back in the middle of the street just outside the open driver's side door… Shavers was taken to a hospital, but died within an hour.^[1]

It was later revealed in The Times-Picayune, that he was not the intended target. New Orleans Police said the teenager who shot him actually meant to kill Shavers' 15-year-old stepson in a dispute stemming from a neighborhood feud. His murder, along with a spate of other violent crimes within the same week, sparked a massive protest march on New Orleans City Hall on January 11, 2007.