By Karen Frantz
A neighbor described a young man from South Jamaica found shot to death in St. Albans early Sunday as a soft-spoken and polite person who was always quick to offer help.
“He was very sweet,” Jacqueline Campbell said of the 21-year-old victim, Roshane Morrison. “I was surprised when I heard …. He looked so innocent. He had such an innocent face.”
She said Morrison’s mother had turned him out of her house a while back and a woman in South Jamaica, who had three grown children of her own, had taken him in two years ago.
“This is the only family he knows,” she said. “She was crying when I spoke to her yesterday.”
Campbell said she did not know what Morrison did for a living but he had been enrolled at LaGuardia Community College before dropping out.
Morrison’s body was discovered at the corner of 110th Avenue and 179th Place after someone placed a 911 call at 2:30 a.m. Sunday, police said.
He had been shot in the torso and was rushed to Jamaica Hospital, where he was pronounced dead, police said.
Morrison lived about a mile from where he was found dead, according to police.
The NYPD said there had not been any arrests made as of Sunday afternoon and the investigation was ongoing.
Yellow crime tape remained at several different parts of the scene where Morrison was found Sunday. Small single-family homes, garages and a large, empty parking lot surround the area. A sign at the parking lot says the area is under 24-hour video surveillance.
A spokesman for the NYPD said police will be looking into the video footage as part of the investigation.
A resident who lives near the intersection where Morrison was found seemed surprised to learn of the death and said such things were not common in her neighborhood.
Campbell said she did not know who might have been responsible for Morrison’s death.
“Sometimes you have good kids. They try, but they get mixed up in things,” she said.
Reach reporter Karen Frantz by e-mail at kfrantz@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-260-4538.
