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Teen Soccer Star Shot to Death in Bedford-Stuyvesant

By DNAinfo Staff on May 26, 2012 10:15am  | Updated on May 26, 2012 1:01pm

A photo of Isaiah Roberts, 19, who was found dead in Bedford-Stuyvesant on May 25, 2012.
A photo of Isaiah Roberts, 19, who was found dead in Bedford-Stuyvesant on May 25, 2012.
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DNAinfo/Jesse Lent, Roberts' family

By Jesse Lent and Jess Wisloski

DNAinfo.com New York Reporters

BROOKLYN — The parents of a young man killed by gunfire Friday night were in disbelief Saturday as to how the promising, college-bound high-schooler met his tragic end.

Isaiah Estephen Joel Roberts, 19, of Brownsville, was found unconscious on the ground in front of a Bedford-Stuyvesant building at 11:35 p.m. Friday night, according to police.

When cops arrived at the Howard Avenue building, they discovered the young man with a gunshot wound to the back.

He was transported to Kings County Hospital, but pronounced dead on arrival.

Family members at Roberts's Rockaway Parkway home mourned the young man and were baffled as to how he lost his life on the streets.

Genevieve Roberts-Killiebrew holds of two photos of her son, Isaiah, 19, who was killed from a gunshot wound in Bedford-Stuyvesant on May 25, 2012.
Genevieve Roberts-Killiebrew holds of two photos of her son, Isaiah, 19, who was killed from a gunshot wound in Bedford-Stuyvesant on May 25, 2012.
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DNAinfo/Jesse Lent

Roberts was an avid soccer player, who belonged to a Long Island team called the Scorpion Kings. His coach picked him up personally to give him rides out to his games, said his mother, Genevieve Roberts-Killiebrew, 41.

His father, Stephen Francis, 45, who lives in East New York said it soccer was one of the things his son lived for.

“A lot of kids these days don’t like sports. He loved sports. Give him a ball and he’ll show you what he can do with it," Francis said. “I swear to God he would have gotten a soccer scholarship.”

Roberts's parents said he was also active in track and field at his high school, the Henry Street School for International Studies in the Lower East Side.

Roberts had been headed to a party when the fatal encounter occurred, his mother said.

"I can't even cry anymore. I can't," choked Roberts-Killiebrew.

A neighbor told her that Isaiah and his friend had been robbed at gunpoint, and that the robber had fired into the air, but it had somehow struck Roberts.

Roberts was an only child, and lived in Brownsville with his mother and stepdad after moving from Trinidad four years earlier, said his mother.

He was also in close contact with his father.

"He's my only son. He was a good son. He will be remembered," said Francis. "I spoke to him all [yesterday] evening. We were on the phone all evening."

A photo of Isaiah Roberts, 19, who police say was shot to death in Bedford-Stuyvesant on May 25, 2012.
A photo of Isaiah Roberts, 19, who police say was shot to death in Bedford-Stuyvesant on May 25, 2012.
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DNAinfo/Isaiah Roberts family

"You have to live for your children. When you lost one that was inside of you it hurts
like hell. I’m going to try to go to sleep and pretend this didn’t happen," he said.

“He liked drafting and drawing plans. He was looking at colleges," he said, and thinking of pursuing a degree in architecture.

“He was a very good kid," he said, adding that he was on a special advanced soccer team.

Moments later, the man collapsed, sobbing into a friend's shoulder.

Police said no arrests have been made, but an investigation is ongoing.