A man arrested for shooting to death his roommate in the Bronx had grown close with the victim’s family before the heartless killing, police and the victim’s mom said.
Almost a year after the death of 25-year-old father of two Chanler Reams, cops arrested his former roommate Christopher Lawton, 36, and charged him with murder, assault and criminal possession of a weapon on Friday.
Reams and Lawton shared an apartment on Southern Blvd. near E. 142nd St. in Mott Haven, where Lawton allegedly shot Reams in the head following an argument around 5:45 p.m. on Nov. 9 last year, according to police.
“I know that young people argue, but I would never have expected him to do that to my son,” the victim’s mother, Latoya Reams said on Monday.
“I was in disbelief. We were all just together.”
Lawton and Reams were friends and had lived together for about a year before the shooting. After becoming roommates Lawton became almost like family.
“He’s been to my grandkids home. He was with us for the Fourth of July,” Latoya said.
She spoke to Lawton almost as much as she spoke to her son. “My son would call me every morning to make sure I got to work, and I would talk to both young men,” she said.
Latoya described her son and Lawton as having something of an “Odd Couple” relationship, with frequent disagreements but also mutual affection. Reams would often stick up for Lawton when he perceived Lawton being picked on by others, Latoya said.
“We called him ‘Bear.’ He got that nickname in high school because he was always the protector of people. He didn’t like bullying,” Latoya said.
At the same time, she said the two would often butt heads.
“They used to argue a lot, but it was, you know, this team is better than that one,” she said. “I used to tell them like, you know you guys are too volatile, everything is an argument. But it was never anything where I was concerned in that way, about that type of violence.”
When a mutual friend who had been hanging out with both men called her and told her her son had been shot, she couldn’t believe it. “I said, ‘what do you mean he’s been shot?’ what are you talking about?’”
She later learned from detectives that the men had “gotten in a fight of some sort and when my son turned his back, the young man, I guess, went back into his bedroom and retrieved the gun and then shot him,” she explained.
“I just miss him. He was the laughter in the family. He was the glue that kept all the cousins together.”
Now Reams’ six-year-old son and 4-year-old daughter are growing up without a father.
“My grandson is very aware of the situation. Him and his mom are in therapy. He has questions,” Latoya said.
“My granddaughter does not understand the permanency of death, so she still wants to call him and she still wants to go to his house.”
Lawton was found in Ohio before being extradited to New York, where he was charged Friday. He was arrested once previously in New York for carrying a loaded firearm in 2015, according to the NYPD.
Latoya sees her son’s death as part of the larger issue of gun violence being used to resolve petty disputes.
“We’re losing too many of our kids to foolishness. Things that these young people need to learn to cope with without violence,” she said. “We have to do better as a community.”