Victim's mother relieved by suspect's recapture

INQUIRER STAFF WRITERS

Michelle Young had waited 14 months for an arrest in the slaying of her 17-year-old son, Kyree, gunned down in Southwest Philadelphia during an alleged robbery attempt on his way home from work.

Then, on Aug. 14, the day after Omar Roane was arrested and charged with murder, he managed to bolt from a prison van and vanish.

So after an emotional week, Young said Saturday that she was immensely relieved to learn that Roane, 22, was recaptured Friday night in Harrisburg.

He was returned Saturday to Philadelphia Police Headquarters, where a felony escape charge will be added to an already extensive rap sheet, police said.

"We're glad he's back without anyone getting injured," said Lt. Frank Vanore, police spokesman.

"I'm very happy now that they've caught him," said Young, who lives in the 5500 block of Saybrook Avenue, a tiny block in a neighborhood where dilapidated houses are common. "I feel a little closure."

Deputy U.S. marshals and Dauphin County police, including a SWAT team, arrested Roane at a house in the 3100 block of Hoffer Street in Harrisburg.

Officials were chary with details of the arrest. John Patrignani, acting U.S. marshal for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, did say that around 10:30 p.m., "someone who fit his description was seen in the house. He was ordered out of the house and taken into custody without incident."

Vanore would say only that a tip had led the U.S. Marshals Service and Homicide Fugitive Squad to Harrisburg.

Roane, of Southwest Philadelphia, and two other inmates were being taken to the Curran-Fromhold Correctional Facility when they escaped. The van stopped at a light at Frankford and Cottman Avenues in the Northeast, and the men forced open the doors and fled. Two were caught immediately.

The day before, Roane was charged with Young's shooting death in June 2009. A 21-year-old companion of Young's was wounded.

Michelle Young said her son had worked at the Genuardi's supermarket in Wynnewood. She described him as an honor student at John Bartram High School about to enter his senior year.

She said that while she was grateful Roane was back in jail, the events of the last week had reopened a painful wound.

"It does bring it back," she said.