Murder mystery puts Freehold on edge

Violence has come to Throckmorton Street in Freehold Borough once more. Over the years there have been several incidents of murder and mayhem on this primary borough thoroughfare.

The latest violent incident occurred on May 3 when Rodney Keys, a 39-year-old father of three, was shot and killed. The crime occurred in the early hours of a Saturday morning.

Keys was a Freehold High School graduate who played football for the Colonials.

Relatives say he was trying to turn his life around and to put time between him and a criminal past. Unfortunately for Keys and his family, he will not have a chance to do that now.

Freehold Borough police and the Monmouth County Prosecutor's Office have said little about what happened on Throckmorton Street that Saturday morning. Perhaps they just don't know what went on across the street from a social club, but that is of little comfort to borough residents.

Was Keys the target of a crime? Was the unnamed man he was with the target of a crime?

Or was this a random act of violence in a town that is not known for violent crime?

At this point no one has offered any answers to those questions.

It would not make anyone feel better to know that either Keys or the man he was with was hunted down and shot - the second man was treated and released - but it is more confounding not to know if this was a random shooting committed by a person who could act again.

Monmouth County First Assistant Prosecutor Peter E. Warshaw Jr. said, "I can reveal very little about this case." He said the shooting is under investigation by the Prosecutor's Office and the Freehold Borough Police Department Detective Division.

We ask that all available resources be used in getting to the bottom of who shot Rodney Keys. His family, and Freehold Borough residents, deserves answers and someone needs to be held accountable for this deadly criminal behavior.