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Father of Two Killed in Early-Morning Bronx Shooting

By  Patrick Wall and Mathew Katz | July 4, 2012 10:05am | Updated on July 4, 2012 3:30pm

An image of Joseph Seaborough with his 2-year-old son, King.
An image of Joseph Seaborough with his 2-year-old son, King.
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CONCOURSE VILLAGE — A 27-year-old father of two known for his good humor and flashy style was found dead with a gunshot wound to the head just after 4 a.m. on Wednesday, according to police and family.

After cops found Joseph Seaborough on the corner of East 168th Street and Grand Concourse Wednesday morning, paramedics rushed him to Bronx Lebanon Hospital, where he was pronounced dead, police said.

"He was a good son and he was a good father," his dad, John Seaborough Sr. said.

Seaborough's grandmother, Ruth Scott, 82, tried to imagine why someone would murder her grandson.

“He was a good person and a very likeable person,” said Scott. "But it seemed like he liked to fight.”

Scott helped raise Seaborough, who had three older brothers and five sisters, in her apartment in Concourse Village.

He graduated from William H. Taft High School, then held down a series of jobs — doing carpentry, painting, even delivering milk to schools, Scott said.

“Whatever job he could get,” she said, “he did it.”

Seaborough helped care for his two sons, ages two and 10, with their mother, but did not live her, Scott said. He loved to take the boys out to eat and to the movies.

Scott last saw her grandson, who lived nearby with one of his sisters and a brother, on Friday. As always, he was dressed sharply in designer clothes, sporting eye-catching jewelry and plenty of jokes.

“All the time you’d see him,” said Scott, “he was laughing.”

On Wednesday morning, shortly after she learned about her grandson’s murder, Scott could recall Seaborough’s many friends “of all races,” but no enemies.

“It’s just unbelievable that somebody could just take your life like that,” she said, adding, “He didn’t deserve what they did.”

Scott said she had no clue what happened to her grandson, though the incident brought to mind the night in 1969 when a drunk man encountered her brother leaving a bodega and, seemingly without reason, shot him to death.

But now, she said, her mind was fixed on the day ahead of her.

“I have so many people I have to call,” Scott said. “But I haven’t had the strength to tell them yet.”

Mary Holder, 49, a family friend recalled Seaborough's sense of humor.

"He had a funny walk where when you saw it, you knew he was coming," she recalled. "He was a godsend."

About a block from where Seaborough was shot, an employee at the 24-hour High Life Deli said the owner had heard what he thought were early July 4th fireworks being set off Wednesday morning, followed by silence.

“He said it was quiet for a minute,” said the employee, Khaleel Ali, 23. “Then people saw what happened and started yelling.”

Ali, who was not working at the time of the incident, said that customers later told him there had been an altercation near the site of the shooting earlier in the night, but they were not sure if the same individuals were involved.

Police said the investigation was ongoing and have not named any suspects.