Slain Ukiah teen hoped to help troubled youths

The Ukiah teen shot and killed near an apartment complex Friday night was a good person with a big heart, according to friends and family.

But Roman Elliott, 19, also hung out with known gang members, which made him a target, and was on probation for marijuana use, said Althea Trejo, who lives in the south Ukiah apartment complex where Elliott collapsed and died. Elliott was best friends with her son, a purported gang member, and often stayed with them, she said.

“He was like a brother to me,” said Trejo’s daughter, Ana Hernandez. Elliott also was her cousin.

“Roman did not deserve that. He was a good person,” Trejo said.

Ukiah police have divulged no details of the shooting nor confirmed how Elliott died.

Trejo said she could see that Elliott was struck by at least three bullets, two in the chest and one in the neck, during the attack, which occurred at about 9:40 p.m. on Observatory Avenue, near the Observatory Surgery Center.

She and other witnesses said it sounded as though the shots were fired from the direction of the surgery center parking lot, which is adjacent to two apartment complexes south of the one where Elliott collapsed and died.

Trejo believes Elliott was fleeing the apartment complex across from hers when he was shot. She did not know why he was there, but Elliott was essentially homeless and stayed many different places, she said. Elliott ran across the street and fell in front of her building, just a dozen or so steps from her door, she said.

She could hear Elliott gasp for air but nearby medical responders were reportedly unable to render help until police secured the scene, Trejo said.

“The cops didn’t let them in for five minutes,” she said. “I was yelling, ‘Why aren’t you guys doing anything?’”

A memorial has been erected where Elliott died. It includes dozens of candles, red and white roses, beer and empty cognac bottles. A red bandanna and red Giants hat were perched on a cross.

Elliott was wearing a similar red hat when he died, Trejo said. About 50 people gathered Sunday night to remember the young man during a barbecue held at the apartment complex he often called home and where he died.

It was as he wished, his cousin said. At a funeral both attended last year, Elliot told her he wanted to be remembered at a party when it “was his time.”

“Roman said to celebrate his life,” Hernandez said.

Trejo said Elliott had been like a son to her.

“I made sure he had clean clothes to wear, she said. Trejo said her son, currently incarcerated, pushed Elliott to finish high school.

Elliott was a member of the Hopland Band of Pomo Indians and recently graduated from the Ukiah Adult School, Trejo said. He hoped to attend an Indian college, with plans to become a counselor for troubled Native American youth like himself, she said.

“He wanted to get out of here, to help others,” Trejo said.

Elliott last year also had been involved with the Victory Outreach church, where he was a member of God’s Anointed Now Generation, or GANG, according to a woman who would not give her name. No one answered the phone Monday at the church, located just a few blocks from the shooting scene.

Friday’s shooting was at least the third in the crime-plagued neighborhood in the past several months, Trejo said.

She said crime is worsening and she’d like to move.

“We shouldn’t be scared to walk out the door,” Trejo said.

Ukiah police are encouraging anyone with information about the case to call the department at 463-6262.