By Howard Koplowitz
A party promoter and father of three from Jamaica was the city’s first homicide victim of the new year in what his family called a senseless slaying.
Jamaican immigrant Dwayne Haughton, 29, was shot in the neck and chest at around 5:30 a.m. Saturday while trying to help a female friend, who was being attacked, leave a club near 94th Avenue and 127th Street in South Richmond Hill, police and family said.
“He was trying to prevent a fight. He wasn’t a fighter,” said one of Haughton’s younger sisters, Tashana Bender.
Police said they are looking for 25-year-old Carrie Dixon in connection with the murder and asked the public to call the Crime Stoppers hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS if they know of Dixon’s whereabouts.
Bender said her brother went to the Rosedale City Mission Pentecostal Church in Rosedale to receive a blessing before going to the party at Kerryel’s Banquet Hall to pick up the mother of one of his three young children and her brother.
While on his way back to the car with his son’s mother and her brother, a group of girls were throwing snow at Haughton’s female friend, his sister said.
The friend could not be reached for comment.
Somebody then punched his friend in the face before punching Haughton, his sister said.
The Newtown High School graduate was then shot twice, once in the neck and once in the chest, police said.
“It was senseless,” Bender said.
An investigation into Haughton’s murder was ongoing and there were no suspects as of Tuesday afternoon.
The murder left Haughton’s three young children — Dwayne Jr, 5; Deanna, 2; and Denym, 18 months — without a father.
Haughton’s mother, Paulette Porter, said her son looked after his six siblings and cooked for them.
“He’s still considered the man in this house,” said Haughton’s sister, Amoi Edward. “He’s always looking out for us. He always put family first.”
“You can always call on him to do something for you,” Borter said, noting that her son helped a neighbor shovel snow during the blizzard.
Haughton was known as “Bobby” to his family and friends — a nickname his uncle gave him back in Jamaica because of his love for musician Bob Marley.
On the party-promoting scene, he was known as “Bobby Genius,” where Haughton hyped celebrations in Queens, Brooklyn and the Bronx.
“He’s a very good guy. Never got into trouble,” said Dwayne Barnes, a friend of Haughton’s for 10 years. “Always happy. Always had a good word of encouragement to give you. Loved to party.”
Laura Kennedy, a family friend, remembered Haughton as a family-oriented man.
“Bobby was a good kid,” she said. “He’s a good father. A very good father and a very loving father.”
His family said he planned to open a restaurant called Apple Tree after the family’s pet name for their mother, Apple.
The family was getting ready to hold a vigil in Haughton’s honor by wearing red and gray — his favorite colors. When he was murdered, Haughton was wearing a gray suit with a red bow tie.
Reach reporter Howard Koplowitz by e-mail at hkoplowitz@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-260-4573.
