Springs homicide victim remembered as artist, soldier

Timothy Roath, an artist and former soldier who was a “father figure” to his siblings, died Thursday of a gunshot wound to the head.

Roath was one of two men killed within about six hours in separate and apparently unrelated shootings in Colorado Springs, police said. The name of the second victim, shot about 3 a.m. Friday, has not been released.

Roath was shot about 9:15 p.m. at a building in the Park Ridge Apartments just north of Maizeland Road and Academy Boulevard, Colorado Springs police reported.

“He was pretty much the father figure,” said Brittany Roath, his 24-year-old sister. “Our family was kind of split up, and he was just an all around good person. He was the life of the conversation.”

Brittany Roath said their 13-year-old brother, Sam, had planned to move to the Springs in the next week to live with Timothy. Timothy Roath moved here a few months ago after getting out of the Army and a brief stint in Tennessee, where his family and friends live.

Timothy Roath loved drawing and skateboarding, and pursued both growing up in Lake City, Tenn., said Andrew Wills, a high school classmate.  

“He could freehand pictures you couldn’t believe,” Wills said. “He would draw skateboarding themes, he would freehand different anime posters – downsize them or enlarge them – anything he saw he could draw.”

He also had other desirable qualities, said high school friend Casey Branum.

“Tim was a pretty one,” Branum said. “The girls liked him more than they liked the rest of us.”

Family and friends said Roath’s home life was difficult, and he joined the Army in part to escape and get a direction for life. While in the Army, Roath served at least two tours in connection with the Iraq War, his family said. Fort Carson officials said Friday they couldn’t confirm Roath’s service until next week.

“When he was in the service, he more or less had a direction and a goal,” said his aunt, Janice Pinkleton. “It was what he needed – ‘I have to do this, and I have a job.’ ”

Brittany Roath said Timothy moved to Colorado Springs to attend school and focus his life.
“He was a little different after, probably, what he went through,” she said. “He went from a boy to a man. He just grew up pretty fast, I think.”

The second fatal shooting — a drive-by killing, according to nearby residents —  was about early Friday outside an apartment complex near South Chelton Road and Fountain Boulevard.
A black man in his mid-20s was found with gunshot wounds.

Police did not release the name of the second victim or any information about suspects. No arrests have been made in either shooting, but police said they do not believe the shootings are random.

The second victim’s uncovered body remained on the ground at 10 a.m., while distraught men and women, who identified themselves as family members and friends, stood in groups nearby, but did not want to talk about the victim.

Colorado Springs police spokesman Sgt. Steve Noblitt said investigators were looking for clues and did not want to move the body until they were finished.

Police Sgt. Jennifer Lewis said a white vehicle was seen leaving the area of the shooting.

Roath’s death is the 14th homicide this year in Colorado Springs. If the second shooting also is ruled a homicide, it will bring the toll to 15. Through the end of July 2009, there were 16 homicides in the city.

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Gazette reporter Matt Steiner contributed to this report