"Man fatally shot Thursday in Roxbury is identified" by Aneri Pattani Globe Correspondent February 07, 2016
Kids were always knocking on the door of Marquis Waithe’s Brookledge Street apartment, asking for the 22-year-old to come play. They wanted to wrestle and throw a football, or take a trip to Franklin Park.
No matter how busy he was, Marquis always made time for the children of his Roxbury neighborhood, his sister Shirlane Waithe said.
“He never turned them down no matter,” she said. “He loved helping people, and he loved bringing people together.”
On Thursday, Marquis Waithe was shot to death in the community he cared so deeply about. He was shot around 5:45 p.m. in a building just down the street from his home, Boston police said as they identified him Sunday. His sister said he had been visiting friends.
No arrests have been made, and police have not described a motive in the killing. As investigators search for answers, neighbors and loved ones are mourning a kind young man who they said was always looking for ways to help out.
“I knew him since he was little, little, running around, playing basketball” said Stevenise Sydney, who lived in the same building as Waithe. “He was a good kid. Whenever I had heavy things, he would always help me carry them.”
Sydney was shocked by the news of Waithe’s death.
“No, no, no,” she said. “He just lived the way he’s supposed to live and someone takes his life like that. It’s sad.”
Shirlane Waithe said she did not believe her brother had ever been in any trouble, and she could not understand why someone would have wanted to hurt him.
On a Facebook page setup by Waithe’s cousin, friends and family posted dozens of farewell messages. One post shows a picture of Waithe volunteering at a food bank, an activity that his sister said he often took part in as a youth leader with a community organization.
Waithe worked in that role for more than four years, helping to organize community events. He even dressed up as an Easter bunny for a children’s Easter egg hunt.
“He was a clown. He was a jokester,” Shirlane Waithe, 32, of Randolph, said. “He just loved to make people laugh.”
The youngest of four siblings, Waithe was the family entertainer. Whether he was imitating his grandmother or playing the drums, he always made people smile.
“Marquis was always on the drums, banging on the table and cabinet, anything he could get his hands on,” Shirlane Waithe recalled.
He dreamed of becoming a musician and even worked in a recording studio sometimes, playing the drums and piano. He loved rap and R&B, as well as gospel music, which he sang in the church choir, his sister said.
Waithe’s funeral is scheduled for Feb. 13. The family has set up a fund-raising effort to help with funeral costs.
“He was a well-known, loved kid,” his sister said. “He loved this community. He didn’t deserve what happened to him.”
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