Man's death makes him second brother to be slain

PORTSMOUTH

Kevin Vass, the quiet one, never said much after his closest sibling, baby brother Jason, was killed nine years ago during a nightclub shooting that remains unsolved.

But he visited his brother's grave several times a month, older sister Regina Vass said Friday.

Now family members aren't sure how they will respond to a second violent crime that has struck them, the still unexplained shooting that took Kevin Vass' life Thursday morning.

"It's kind of like you're numb," Regina Vass said. "You're sitting around. My mother raised 11 of us by herself. I don't know how much more she can take."

Kevin Vass, 36, a maintenance man at the Whispering Oaks apartments near Bon Secours Maryview Medical Center, where he also lived, was policing the grounds in a golf cart early in his shift Thursday, according to his sister and court documents.

Police said in court filings that at about 8:30 a.m., a man approached Vass as he worked on Glasgow Street, in front of the apartment complex, and shot Vass "multiple times." The man chased the wounded Vass around the corner into the complex before fleeing, according to the documents.

Vass kept running until he collapsed, police said, and was pronounced dead at the scene.

Later Thursday, police identified as their suspect Eric Roundtree, 39, a convicted felon who also lived in the complex, and arrested him early Friday. He was jailed pending a bond hearing Monday on murder and two firearm charges.

Kevin and Jason Vass were the two youngest siblings in their family. Jason was 23 when he and friends went to a crowded city nightclub in May 2000. When shots rang out about 2:30 a.m., the friends huddled under a table.

"When it stopped, they got up, and that's when the shooting started again," Regina Vass said.

A bullet hit Jason in the back of the head. Despite the crowd, no witnesses came forward in the weeks after his death.

"We've never heard anything," Regina Vass said. "Nothing."

Jason Vass died on Mother's Day.

The Vass family for now is taking care of Kaven, Kevin Vass' 9-year-old daughter. He had gained custody of her last year, Regina Vass said. He also had two teen age sons.

The company managing the apartment complex called him a good worker. S.L. Nusbaum Realty Co. provided a grief counselor Thursday for family members who gathered to wait for their brother's body to be removed. A sign on the complex's office door Friday extended the same offer to other tenants.

"There's not much you can do in a situation like that," senior vice president William Halprin said. "It's just such a shock.... Our hearts go out to them."

The family doesn't know Roundtree or know of any problems between him and their brother. So far, it's just another sad mystery for them.

Matthew Bowers, (757) 222-3893, matthew.bowers@pilotonline.com