{"id":8532,"date":"2012-02-11T18:30:27","date_gmt":"2012-02-12T02:30:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/198.57.196.122\/~gdatwofo\/theavtimes\/?p=8532"},"modified":"2012-07-01T14:15:24","modified_gmt":"2012-07-01T21:15:24","slug":"family-seeks-justice-for-man-shot-dead-by-roommate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/2012\/02\/11\/family-seeks-justice-for-man-shot-dead-by-roommate\/","title":{"rendered":"Family seeks justice for man shot dead by roommate"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
James McElroy, 21, (shown with his 2-year-old daughter Izabella) was shot to death Tuesday.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

PALMDALE \u2013 Several family members wept openly Friday evening, as Clemmie Graves recalled the last moments she spent with her son.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was squeezing my hand, and I was saying \u2018just breathe for me baby, breathe for me,\u2019\u201d Graves recalled through tears. \u201cI said, \u2018come on God, please don\u2019t take my son from me!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

But less than an hour later her son was gone.<\/p>\n

Authorities say James Fitzgerald McElroy<\/strong>, 21, was shot and killed Tuesday night at the Parkwood Patio apartment complex in the 38000 block of 20th street east in Palmdale.<\/p>\n

Deputies from the Palmdale Station responded to a call of shots fired around 8:50 p.m. and found McElroy at the location suffering from a gunshot wound, according to Lieutenant Mary Leef of the Sheriff\u2019s Headquarters Bureau. He was transported to the hospital and pronounced dead at 9:44 p.m., according to Los Angeles County Coroner\u2019s Assistant Chief Ed Winter. Deputies reportedly recovered two firearms from the location.<\/p>\n

McElroy\u2019s roommate, <\/strong>Nicholas Harper<\/strong>, 23, was detained at the scene on suspicion of manslaughter, according to Lt. Leef. Inmate records show Harper was booked at 4:25 a.m. Wednesday morning at the Palmdale Station jail. Sheriff\u2019s Homicide Bureau detectives are still investigating the motive for the shooting, but have reportedly said that the incident appears to be accidental based on preliminary information.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
(L to R) Father, James McElroy Sr., girlfriend Carla Morales, and mother Clemmie Graves.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

McElroy\u2019s family members vehemently dispute this conclusion.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is no way this could have been an accident, he meant to kill my son,\u201d said Graves.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was murdered by a friend of his that is being a coward right now and trying to run from it,\u201d said father, James McElroy, Sr.<\/p>\n

McElroy\u2019s girlfriend of more than two years, Carla Morales, 22, was at the apartment with both men on the night of the shooting. Morales said the two were having problems because Harper could not come up with his share of the rent for February, and that Harper had appeared drunk on the night of the shooting.<\/p>\n

Other family members said Harper had been jealous of McElroy, who appeared to have everything going for him while Harper was suffering a series of setbacks.<\/p>\n

\u201cJames had everything, he\u2019d just got hired for a job, he\u2019d just got his car, and he had a whole lot of friends who loved him,\u201d said McElroy\u2019s cousin Connie. \u201cHe (Harper) was losing everything, he lost his license, his baby mama, and he was drinking and doing drugs.\u201d<\/p>\n

Family members said Harper\u2019s jealously had caused tension between the roommates and the two had argued frequently since living together for about a month. They said McElroy suspected that Harper had been stealing from him.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was saying I need to get out of here, me and Nick ain\u2019t getting along, he\u2019s stealing from me and I\u2019m gonna have to confront him,\u201d Graves said. \u201cHe was trying to figure out a way to confront him.\u201d<\/p>\n

She said her son had also grown to distrust Harper, even though the two had been best friends since her son was 13.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was saying he had to get the gun out of the house because he didn\u2019t trust Nick, he had a feeling Nick was going to do something,\u201d Graves said. \u201cHe was trying to get rid of the gun and sell the gun, but nobody wanted it because it was a gun.\u201d<\/p>\n

On the day of the shooting, family members said McElroy and friends had hung out in Los Angeles all day without Harper. Morales said she accompanied her boyfriend back to the apartment later that day, and they found Harper drunk, unhappy and looking to pick an argument.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe (Harper) was arguing with him for no reason, he was just mad because of the fact that the mother of his child had just left him and he didn\u2019t have anyone, he was just going through some stuff,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Morales said she was in the bedroom sleeping when the gunshot woke her up. She said she rushed outside into the living room and saw McElroy had been shot and Harper appeared to be on the phone with a 9-1-1 operator. Morales said she immediately called McElroy\u2019s mother to the apartment.<\/p>\n

Graves said when she got the call she rushed over and saw that her son had been shot in the mouth.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Family members said McElroy lived for his daughter Izabella.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cI started screaming, who did this to my son! Who did this to my son!\u201d Graves said.<\/p>\n

She said she cradled her son\u2019s head in her arms and begged him to breathe and to stay with her. She said McElroy could not talk but squeezed her hand. Graves said when her daughter stood close to Harper, McElroy pulled the girl away from Harper, which she took as a sign of her son\u2019s anger toward Harper.<\/p>\n

Graves said she believed Harper purposely shot her son, and said he first tried to lie and cover it up.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was saying at first that two black guys busted into the apartment and shot my son but didn\u2019t shoot him, and that the black people wiped their prints off the door when they left,\u201d Graves said. \u201cI was like \u2018that doesn\u2019t make sense!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Morales said Harper tried to convince her to say that two blacks guy had busted into the apartment, but she refused. Morales said she did not see the gun after the shooting and suspected Harper had hidden the gun in order to support his story. She said there were two guns in the apartment, and deputies found both guns in the bushes outside.<\/p>\n

Graves said Harper eventually admitted to killing her son once he got to the Sheriff\u2019s station, but said the shooting had been an accident.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe said he was cleaning a gun and it had a bullet in it and it got lodged so he had James help him to unstick it, and then he shot James in the face,\u201d Graves said, adding that she doesn\u2019t buy that story either.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy son knew enough about guns not to put a gun in his face,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Harper was held on suspicion of manslaughter Tuesday. A spokeswoman at the Los Angeles County District Attorney\u2019s office said Harper had not been formally charged in connection with the killing as of 3:30 p.m. Friday afternoon. But according to the LASD Inmate Information Center, Harper was still in custody as of late Friday night. Deputy Gomez at the Sheriff\u2019s Headquarters Bureau said Harper was still being held on suspicion of manslaughter. (We will have more details on the charges as information becomes available.)<\/p>\n

Graves said she would like to see Harper charged with first-degree murder.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want 187 premeditated,\u201d she said. \u201cMy son was a good son and a good father, he helped take care of me, he helped take care of his daughter, he was the support system for our family\u2026 he didn\u2019t deserve this.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe (Harper) needs to be locked up to pay for what he did,\u201d said Morales. \u201cHe took a great person away from everybody.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

PALMDALE \u2013 Several family members wept openly Friday evening, as Clemmie Graves recalled the last moments she spent with her son. \u201cHe was squeezing my hand, and I was saying \u2018just breathe for me baby, breathe for me,\u2019\u201d Graves recalled through tears. \u201cI said, \u2018come on God, please don\u2019t take my son from me!\u2019\u201d But […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":8537,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[719],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8532"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8532"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8532\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8537"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8532"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8532"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8532"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}