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StumbleuponMom: Murdered son said he'd be right back
Friday, September 12, 2008
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DAYTON — Kendrick Javon Pope grabbed the keys to his mom's car late Thursday morning, Sept. 11, and told her he'd "be right back."
Kenya Pope wishes her 16-year-old son who loved to rap and sometimes tried her patience would've kept his promise.
Kendrick Pope was gunned down behind the old Jefferson Primary School near the corner of Kumler and Oxford avenues just after noon on Thursday by an unknown shooter, according to police.
He died at about 5 p.m. in Miami Valley Hospital.
Homicide detectives said they have few clues who stripped the teen of his pants and shoes before shooting him as many as 11 times in the chest and torso.
"At this time I have no idea how or why it happened," Kenya Pope, 36, said. "All I know is my child is gone. Whatever it was it was senseless to me because it wasn't worth a life."
Kendrick Pope managed to get into his mother's car after being shot and made it about half a block before colliding with a parked car at the corner of Catalpa Street and Oxford, Sgt. Gary White said.
Police found his pants, shoes and two cell phones in the rear of the shuttered school.
Kenya Pope said her son stopped by a friend's house shortly before being shot, but she was unsure if anyone was with him at the time of the shooting.
Dayton police said Kendrick Pope hung out at the Oxford Food Mart, in the 600 block of Oxford Avenue. He did have tattoos that represent a local gang, Lt. John Huber said.
"I see him here from time to time," said Eddie Mortgene, who said he lives in the area and shops at the food mart. "He wasn't a thug I don't think, but what goes on in those streets gets handled in the streets."
Pope's murder is the second near the 500 block of Oxford Avenue in less than a month.
Michelle Traylor, 46, was shot and killed while on the front porch of her home at 530 Oxford on Aug. 25. Traylor's daughter and her daughter's boyfriend were also shot but survived.
No arrests have been made in that shooting.
Kendrick Pope is the 30th homicide victim in the city this year, according to police.
Kenya Pope said her son was to start school at Mound Street Academies and was going to celebrate his 17th birthday on Sept. 16, she said.
"He was a typical kid trying to grow up in a society we are all trying to deal with," she said. "He had a big heart. He might have been hard on the outside, but he had a big heart."
Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2494 or lsullivan@DaytonDailyNews.com
