A former professional basketball player from Europe was tragically shot and killed in a targeted attack during a crowded basketball tournament in Harlem on Friday night, according to police.
Kinu Rochford, who made a name for himself at Fairleigh Dickinson University in New Jersey, was shot in the head at approximately 10:30 p.m. during the Kingdome Basketball Tournament held at the Martin Luther King Jr. Towers on Lenox Avenue, as reported by authorities.
Two additional individuals were injured when the gunfire broke out, police stated.
“It sounded like a firework,” recounted Jessica Montgomery, a witness. “And then I heard it again and people started running.”
Rochford, aged 35, was participating in the tournament and was shot while observing between games, according to police.
The incident originated from a disagreement Rochford, a Brooklyn resident, had with another man, a police source mentioned. The specific reason for the conflict remains unclear.
Emergency personnel administered CPR to Rochford, who resided in Crown Heights, and transported him to Mount Sinai Morningside Hospital, but he could not be revived, police confirmed.
The two injured individuals—a 28-year-old man with a shin wound and a 22-year-old woman shot in the right forearm—were among the estimated 500 spectators at the tournament taking place between West 112th Street and West 115th Street. They were both admitted to Harlem Hospital in stable condition.
On Saturday, several mourners arrived at Rochford’s Brooklyn Avenue residence in Crown Heights, bringing bouquets of flowers. A man departing the building shouted, “Kinuuuu!”
A neighbor shared that Rochford was one of triplets—a set consisting of two boys and a girl—and that his parents hailed from Trinidad. Recalling the past, the neighbor remembered seeing Rochford’s father in a nearby park, proudly watching his sons play basketball. “Those are my two bulls,” Rochford’s father said of his sons. “They loved basketball.”
Mayor Zohran Mamdani condemned the shooting, expressing on X Saturday his heartbreak for Rochford’s family and declaring, “this senseless violence must stop.”
“New Yorkers deserve to spend the summer watching and playing sports, attending community events, and enjoying our public spaces—places where families, friends, and neighbors joyfully gather, not where people are at risk of becoming victims to gun violence,” he added.
The FDU Knights extended their condolences on Instagram for Rochford, who was a standout power forward and center during his time there from 2011 to 2013.
“FDU is devastated to hear of the tragic passing of former men’s basketball player Kinu Rochford (’13),” the post reads. “A standout Knight and leader, Rochford built a legacy in Hackensack. He was 35 years old.”
In 2012, Rochford assured FDU coach Greg Vetrone that if given the opportunity, he would be a workhorse for him, and he lived up to that promise. He averaged 9.3 points per game and secured 6.8 rebounds while starting 20 games.
“I realized it’s [about] preparation,” Rochford explained to The Post at the time regarding the transition to Division I basketball. “It’s not like a [regular] game. They scout you real well, your ins and outs.”
Standing at 6’6”, Rochford played high school basketball at James Madison in Brooklyn and also attended the now-closed Globe Institute of Technology. He began his professional career in 2013 and secured the Lithuanian National Basketball League championship in 2017 with Garonne Sūduva-Mantinga.
Rochford also played professionally in France, Kosovo, Israel, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and Switzerland. However, he was dismissed from the British Basketball Championship team, the Plymouth Raiders, after testing positive for banned substances in 2018, as reported by the Western Morning News in England. His last professional stint was with Golden Eagle Ylli in the Kosovo Basketball Superleague in 2021. The substances were believed to be recreational rather than performance-enhancing, according to the newspaper.
The Kingdome tournament has seen participation from several NBA stars, including former Knicks players Tracy McGrady, David Lee, and Metta World Peace, as well as former Syracuse University legend and ex-New Jersey Net Pearl Washington.
Ronnie Francis, coach of the BK Stompers basketball team in Brooklyn, had known Rochford and his family for many years. “He had the work ethic,” Francis remarked. “He turned that into college scholarships and an overseas career.”
Francis had coached Rochford in a game just days prior. “I just had to tell his mother what happened,” he said. “It’s the hardest thing I ever had to do. She was crying and screaming for her son.”
A participant at the Harlem tournament, where a mural painted on the court’s surface a day earlier depicted Knicks legend Walt Frazier passing the NBA championship trophy to point guard Jalen Brunson, expressed concerns about the need to curb gun violence in the area. “I got kids running around these projects,” he said. “We need more police [on] patrol.”
