By Ivan Pereira
Darkim Spellman, 23, of 111-41 157th St., was found dead from a gunshot wound to the head around 4:30 a.m. outside a furniture store located at 107-56 Sutphin Blvd., police said. Although police had not made any arrests or named any suspects as of Tuesday, Spellman's family said they believed something suspicious was afoot since they were informed of the shooting before the police contacted them.”Someone called my son's landlord and they said you can find his body on 108 and Sutphin,” said Spellman's mother, Kim Spellman. “She [the landlord] called me and I couldn't believe it.”Kim Spellman said investigators told her that her son was called by a girl who asked him to meet her outside the store, which was closed at the time of the shooting, according to the owner. After he arrived, he was shot. Kim Spellman, the daughter of Eloise Spellman, a welfare mother who was killed by police during the 1967 Newark riots as she leaned out her window, said she had spoken to her son just hours before the incident.”He called me around 1:15 and asked where I was. I told him that I went to the store and he said 'OK, I'll see you tomorrow,” she said.Darkim Spellman worked as a security guard in Jamaica and was the father of a 2-year-old son, Amir Spellman, his mother said. The toddler and his mother flew in from California Tuesday after they learned about the shooting, according to Kim Spellman.Court records show Darkim Spellman had only one arrest that took place last month in which he was charged with aggravated unlicensed operation of a vehicle. Family members remembered Darkim, who was an only child, as a generous person who helped them out when they needed it.”He was into martial arts and loved his son. It was his entire world,” said his aunt, Amanda Shoffner.Kim Spellman and other family members found a puzzling clue outside the house where he lived later that morning. Darkim's red Mercury Sable was found parked outside the house's driveway with its driver's side mirror smashed and a handwritten note on the seat which read: “You really need to go to ur (sic) house and make sure things are ok today.”A police spokesman said officers were looking for at least one suspect without elaborating, but they had not made any arrests Tuesday. The landlord of the house where Darkim Spellman rented out a basement was unavailable for comment as were other housemates.”My family is a strong family. We want to do everything we can to help find who took my son,” Kim Spellman said.Anyone with information on the murder is urged to call Crimestoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477). All calls will be kept confidential.Reach reporter Ivan Pereira by e-mail at ipereira@timesledger.com or by phone at 718-229-0300, Ext. 146.
