ROANOKE, Va. – Laericka Thomas is devastated because she says the man whose body was found on Lucerne Street in Roanoke was her boyfriend.
She says now, her daughter is without a father.
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“What am I going to tell my 1-year-old, is she going to notice her daddy gone?” Thomas said.
Michael Taylor, who grew up in the area says he was shocked by the news.
He was checking to make sure his mother, who lives across the street, was OK.
“She's good, she's just shook up a little bit because she heard the shots outside her house,” Taylor said.
Thomas said the man who shot her boyfriend was a friend of the family, and she doesn't know why this happened.
Neighbors who describe the area as family-friendly are now concerned for the safety of their children.
“Now I'm going to keep them inside. I feel like it could be one of my kids,” Randy Swain, a neighbor, said.
Roanoke police say the suspect has been identified, and they're investigating the incident as a homicide.