A 25-year-old college student and father of twins was fatally shot on a recent early Saturday morning in the area just south of Bedford Park.
Police said Bronx resident Kennedy Brown was found with a gunshot wound to the head in front of an apartment building on Decatur Avenue, off East 197th Street, just before 2 a.m. on Sept 24. Brown was taken to St. Barnabas Hospital where he was pronounced dead.

Detectives on the scene of the shooting said that no arrests have been made, and that the investigation is ongoing.

Shocked friends and family said they could find no explanation for Brown’s shooting. Neighborhood residents said Brown was at a party Friday night that got “out of control.”

Later on Saturday, mourners gathered around a makeshift memorial a few feet from where Brown was killed. They said Brown was studying liberal arts at the College of New Rochelle, which has campuses in the Bronx, and was a father to twins, a boy and a girl.

One woman, who described herself as a close friend, said Brown was a book-smart jokester who was loved by everyone in the neighborhood.

“He was a good boy,” said Justine Valazquez, 25, who grew up with Brown in Bedford Park. “He was funny. He was always making people laugh.”

Many on the street looked visibly shaken. One young man broke down crying in front of the memorial of lit candles, beer bottles, and written messages to Brown.  Most refused to speak about the circumstances surrounding Brown’s killing. One resident said everyone in the neighborhood was on “pins and needles.”

Two miles away, on 176th Street, several family members and friends grieved inside Brown’s second-floor apartment, where he lived with his mother.

Brown’s mother declined to speak about her son, saying only, “My son is dead.” Other family members called the killing “senseless,” and asked to be left alone.