Richmond man’s friend hears his shooting death on phone

David E. Boyd Jr. was a quiet man who worked hard at his job and enjoyed sketching portraits and writing rap lyrics.

David E. Boyd Jr. was talking to his friend Cherika Cooke on the phone as he walked from the store toward his Richmond home late Sunday when Boyd suddenly went silent.

Cooke could hear another man's voice, apparently talking to Boyd. "Get down, get down," the man ordered.

Then, she heard a single gunshot.

Later, she would learn that Boyd, the oldest in a family of 10 brothers and sisters, had been killed on T Street between North 22nd and North 23rd streets in Richmond's East End, within two blocks of his home.

"This is very hard for me to deal with because I actually heard him get murdered," she said yesterday.

Police said they are trying to establish a motive. Two family members said police told them the shooting appeared to have happened during a robbery.

Boyd, 35, was shot about 10:30 p.m. and died at the scene several minutes later, leaving police to record the city's first homicide of the year.

The victim was unable to provide a description of his assailant before he died, Capt. Linda Samuel said at the scene.

Key city police leaders, including Chief Bryan T. Norwood and Assistant Chief David M. McCoy, also converged on the scene, along with about 20 police officers, detectives and forensics technicians.

Police were looking for a man described as about 5-foot-10 with a medium build, wearing a red head covering, a black shirt and jeans. The man was last seen heading on foot toward Mechanicsville Turnpike a few blocks away, police said.

Family members remembered Boyd as a role model to his younger brothers and sisters, a quiet man who worked hard at his job and enjoyed sketching portraits and writing rap lyrics.

He had a 12-year-old daughter.

"I wanted my children to bury me," Boyd's father, David E. Boyd Sr., said yesterday. "They took my first son away."

David Boyd Jr. started working full time in July 2005 at Domestic Uniform Rental in Richmond, and he would walk to work before 5 a.m., family members said.

His job had been to wash the uniforms, said plant manager Angela Knight. About six months ago, he was promoted to be a maintenance worker. He never called in sick or missed work when he was supposed to be there, Knight said. He had a good singing voice, she added, and sometimes would dance and sing while doing his job.

"Michael Jackson would come on; David would do the moonwalk," Knight said.

This past Christmas, Boyd dressed up as Santa Claus in his neighborhood and gave out gifts to children, said Alicia Rasin, founder of Citizens Against Crime.

"I never thought this could happen," Boyd's father said. "Not to this family and especially not to him."
Contact Reed Williams at (804) 649-6332 or .

Contact Bill McKelway at (804) 649-6601 or .