A former European professional basketball player was fatally shot in a targeted murder Friday night at a packed Harlem basketball tournament, cops told The Post.<\/p>\n
Kinu Rochford, a standout at Fairleigh Dickinson University in New Jersey, was shot in the head at around 10:30 p.m. at the Kingdome Basketball Tournament in the Martin Luther King Jr. Towers on Lenox Avenue, police said. <\/strong><\/p>\n Two other people were wounded when gunfire erupted, cops said.<\/p>\n Kinu Rochford was killed when gunshots rang on a basketball court in Harlem around 10:30 p.m. Friday. FDU Athletics<\/p>\n \u201cIt sounded like a firework,\u201d said witness Jessica Montgomery. \u201cAnd then I heard it again and people started running.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Rochford, 35, who was playing in the tournament, was shot while watching between games, according to cops.<\/p>\n The shooting stemmed from a squabble Rochford, of Brooklyn, was having with another man, a police source said. <\/p>\n The nature of the beef wasn\u2019t immediately known, the source said.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Rochford, who was playing in the tournament, was struck while watching between games, according to cops and witnesses. Facebook\/Kinu Rochford<\/p>\n Emergency responders gave CPR to Rochford, who lived in Crown Heights, and rushed him to Mount Sinai Morningside Hospital, but he couldn\u2019t be saved, cops said.<\/p>\n The two injured \u2014 a 28-year-old man was shot in the shin and a 22-year-old woman was shot in the right forearm \u2014 were among the estimated 500 in the crowd watching the tournament between West 112th Street and West 115th Street.<\/p>\n They were both taken to Harlem Hospital in stable condition.<\/p>\n Several mourners arrived Saturday at the Rochford\u2019s Brooklyn Avenue apartment in Crown Heights carrying bouquets of flowers. A man leaving the building screamed, \u201cKinuuuu!\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n A neighbor said Rochford was part of a set of triplets \u2014 two boys and a girl \u2014 and that his parents were from Trinidad.\u00a0<\/p>\n The man saw Rochford coming out of the building\u2019s laundry room on Thursday and noticed he had a slight limp.<\/p>\n He remembered \u201cyears ago\u201d he would see Rochford\u2019s father in a nearby park watching his sons play basketball.<\/p>\n \u201cThose are my two bulls,\u201d Rochford\u2019s father said of his two sons, the neighbor recalled. \u201cThey loved basketball.\u201d<\/p>\n The FDU Knights posted condolences on Instagram about Rochford, a standout power forward and center when he played there from 2011 to 2013.<\/p>\n \u201c<\/strong>FDU is devastated to hear of the tragic passing of former men\u2019s basketball player Kinu Rochford (\u201813),\u201d the post reads.<\/p>\n The former Fairleigh Dickinson University athlete was playing in the Kingdome Basketball Tournament when tragedy struck. Christopher Sadowski for NY Post<\/p>\n Rochford was shot twice, cops said. Christopher Sadowski for NY Post<\/p>\n \u201cA standout Knight and leader, Rochford built a legacy in Hackensack. He was 35 years old.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Rochford told FDU coach Greg Vetrone he would be a workhorse for him if given a chance, he told The Post in 2012. Rochford was right. He averaged 9.3 points per game and hauled in 6.8 boards while starting 20 games.<\/p>\n \u201cI realized it\u2019s [about] preparation,\u201d Rochford told The Post at the time of Division I basketball. \u201cIt\u2019s not like a [regular] game. They scout you real well, your ins and outs.\u201d<\/p>\n