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'Sorrow Beyond Words': Coral Springs Vice Mayor Nancy Metayer Bowen Announces Brother’s Suicide

Donovan Joshua Leigh Metayer {GoFundMe}

Coral Springs Vice Mayor Nancy Metayer Bowen’s 26-year-old brother, Donovan Joshua Leigh Metayer, committed suicide by shooting himself earlier this week, his family announced Saturday.

“On Monday, December 15th, my baby brother, Donovan, died by suicide after a seven-year battle with schizophrenia,” Metayer Bowen wrote in a Facebook post Saturday night.

She thanked community members for their support in the days following Donovan’s death, writing, “I see your messages, hear your voicemails, and am deeply grateful for every expression of remorse.”

“As I continue to navigate my grief, I am not in a space to carry conversations at this time, but please know your kindness has not gone unnoticed.”

Metayer Bowen said her family is creating a mental health fund in Donovan’s name — an effort that aims to expand access to mental health services and support for people and families who need it most.

“In lieu of calls, messages, or flowers, I invite you, if you are able, to consider a donation of any amount to support this effort,” she wrote. “Thank you for holding our family in your thoughts and for honoring Donovan’s memory with such grace, compassion, and love.”

Additional details about Donovan Metayer’s life were shared by his family on their GoFundMe page, which is raising money to help pay for celebration of life services as well as to endow the fund in Donovan’s name at the Henderson Clinic to “provide healthcare, housing, and hope for people of all ages with behavioral health conditions throughout Florida.”

“The loss of our family’s youngest child is a sorrow beyond words—one that will echo through our lives, forever,” the fundraiser page states. “Yet even in our grief, we are choosing to speak Donovan’s truth, so that other families do not have to suffer in silence the way we have.”

The family described Donovan, known as “Donny,” as “a radiant child,” writing that he was “brilliant and curious” and “always excelled academically, with an intellect matched only by a magnetic humor and warmth that could light up any room, effortlessly.”

“But, beneath that light, Donny carried unimaginable sorrow,” the family wrote.

A graduate of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, Donovan was a senior during the 2018 mass shooting at the Parkland campus.

“The trauma of that day and the loss of classmates lingered long after graduation and profoundly altered the course of his life,” the family wrote.

They said that in the months following the attack, “Donny began to withdraw,” and that “depression, guilt, emotional instability, and long periods of isolation replaced the vibrant young man we once knew.”

The family said he had planned to attend college and pursue computer science, but that “his worsening mental health made those dreams difficult to reach.”

“Over the years that followed, he would be hospitalized multiple times for suicidal ideation,” they wrote. “Like so many young people, he struggled to accept a mental health diagnosis.”

His treatment, the family said, involved “therapy, medication, and constant adjustments,” adding that “finding care through limited resources, systemic barriers, and the realities of navigating mental health crises as a young Black man made his path all the more steep.”

They said that in 2021, “a mental health episode… would result in Donny being Baker-acted, and he was temporarily barred from purchasing a firearm.”

“Shortly after, the Henderson Clinic and a private psychiatrist became a lifeline, offering guidance, compassion, and hope for his future,” the family wrote.

With their support, Donovan earned an IT certificate and began working at Office Depot in Coral Springs, where he was quickly promoted.

“After years of challenges, he was beginning to carve out a sense of independence and a future he could believe in,” the family wrote. “His progress was a source of immense pride for our family.”

But earlier this month, upon learning that his Risk Protection Order preventing him from buying a firearm had lapsed, “Donny purchased a handgun at a local gun shop,” the GoFundMe page states.

“A week later, he would use that same handgun to take his own life in our family home,” his family wrote.

They described his suicide as “a heartbreaking reminder of the mental health crisis plaguing our youth and the lasting trauma of gun violence on our community.”

“As we grieve his loss, we are breaking the code of silence in his memory,” the family wrote. “Though Donny’s life was brief, his impact will be everlasting.”

If you or someone you know is struggling, help is available. The Suicide and Crisis Lifeline can be reached by calling or texting 988.

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Author Profile

Kevin Deutsch

Kevin Deutsch is an award-winning journalist and author of two nonfiction books. He covers general assignment news and Jewish community issues for Talk Media. He has also worked as a staff writer at The Miami Times, the Rio Grande SUN, the New York Daily News, Newsday, The Miami Herald, The Palm Beach Post, The Riverdale Press, and Bronx Justice News.