Victim in north Modesto homicide a Beyer grad attending MJC

The 25-year-old man killed while walking home in north Modesto early Tuesday was a 2008 Beyer High School graduate attending Modesto Junior College and hoping to work in the business world, his mother said Wednesday.

Lorraine Penn, a registered nurse at Memorial Medical Center, said her son, Andre, had a lot of friends and enjoyed spending time with them and his family. He was deeply loved, she said, by her; her husband, Kenneth, a CPA with E.&J. Gallo Winery; and Andre’s older sister, Krystle.

Penn said she was at a loss as to why someone killed Andre.

“My son was definitely not gang-related. He didn’t do drugs or violence,” she said. He loved playing basketball – he was on the team at Beyer – and had worked a couple of years at Sears, his mother said.

Andre Penn apparently was killed early Tuesday. About 12:15 a.m., police got a report of shots fired in the area of Claremont Avenue north of Sylvan Avenue, Modesto Police Department spokeswoman Heather Graves said. Officers responding to that report found nothing, she said, so it’s possible the caller heard shots that were fired less than a mile away, on the 600 block of East Union, where Penn was found dead.

About 12:30 a.m., a 911 call came in for medical aid for a person down in a roadway. A passer-by found Penn on the ground in front of a home on East Union, just a couple of blocks from the home he shared with his parents. Her son had been shot six times, Lorraine Penn said. He was dead at the scene.

Detectives believe that a couple of hours before his death, Penn was at or near the North Point Landing shopping center at McHenry and East Union avenues that’s anchored by Walmart.

Lorraine Penn said she heard that her son apparently was at the White Hawk Lounge in that shopping center. The owner of the lounge, who declined to give his name, said, “We don’t know anything yet and we are trying to help police (with) whatever we could do, providing video. I don’t know that person.”

A service will be held Thursday at 11:30 a.m. at the Revival Center at 825 7th Street in Modesto.

Police are seeking witnesses to the homicide. Anyone with information is encouraged to call Detective Mike Hicks at 209-342-6132 or Crime Stoppers at 209-521-4636. Callers to Crime Stoppers can remain anonymous and may be eligible for a reward. Tipsters also can text information to Crime Stoppers at 274637; type TIP704 along with the message.

This story was originally published April 13, 2016 at 3:11 PM with the headline "Victim in north Modesto homicide a Beyer grad attending MJC."