Grieving family of homicide victim want answers

Mekia Butler says, “My heart is broke.”

A trash can full of crime scene tape is all that’s left after forensic technicians cleaned up and left the Mitchell Pond Apartment Complex.

However, for the grief-stricken family and friends of Keonte Gaskins, it’s a painfully harsh reminder of what happened on Wednesday. The 21-year-old’s body was found lying in the stairwell of one of the units with gunshot wounds. He was dead. His grandmother Peggy Price still can’t believe it.

Price says, “It looked to me like he was running away from whoever was after him. Whoever was after him, he was running away from his life, that’s what they were doing. They shot him up there on the steps.”

We’re told Keonte was on the way to visit his mother and didn’t even live at the complex. Loved ones describe him as a quiet guy who stayed to himself.

Butler goes on, “He was a good baby. He was a good boy. He didn’t deserve this.”

Police say someone heard guns shots shortly after midnight, but no one called the police about Keonte’s body until just before 7 a.m. According to the family, his body stayed on the steps for several more hours, into the afternoon. However, what’s more painful than that, is the fact that they still don’t know who did it or why.

Price continues, “Come forward and tell the truth. We want to know what happened to Keonte and why they did this to him because he didn’t bother nobody.”

Butler says, “Mekia is going to find out. ‘Aunt Kia’ is going to find out what’s going on.”

Keonte is the cousin of 17-year-old Rakim Russell who was shot and killed in front of the America’s Best Value Inn in Salisbury last summer. 47 ABC asked police if they were looking to see if there may be any link to the two crimes. They say at this point they’re investigating all possible leads.