Jeanna Duerscherl | The Roanoke Times

A bullet shattered the kitchen window in Leon Eady's Northwest Roanoke apartment Saturday.

Leon Eady was peering inside his refrigerator when he got the scare of his life.

Less than 5 feet away, a bullet came flying through his kitchen window just above the sink. It went through two layers of glass, cracking the entire window and sending tiny shards onto his kitchen floor and dining room table.

"When a bullet comes through the window, it ain't got no name on it," Eady said. "It scared the hell out of me."

The shots that shook Eady also killed a Roanoke man in the street in front of his building at Afton Gardens Apartments.

James Granville Stokes, 29, was fatally shot shortly before 2 p.m. Saturday. The shooting occurred in the 700 block of Hunt Avenue in Northwest Roanoke, according to police spokeswoman Aisha Johnson.

Stokes was taken to Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. No arrests have been made and the incident is under investigation, Johnson said.

"All I know is the man was laying there with bullets in him and bullets flying around, and I called the police real quick," Eady said.

Eady, 57, moved to Roanoke from Newark, N.J., in July. He often heard news of drive-bys and shootings in his New Jersey neighborhood. But a bullet in his own kitchen? Now, that was something entirely different, he said.

"That's a damn scary feeling," Eady said. He was with his wife and 13-year-old grandson when the shooting occurred. "It could have killed me or my wife or my grandson," he said.

Neighbors chatted and children played near the crime scene, which was near a playground.

Tanisha Reddicks and her mother, Brenda Reddicks, came to the scene shortly after they heard that Stokes had been shot. The Southwest Roanoke residents used to live in the nearby Lincoln Terrace Apartments. They knew Stokes, who they said was more commonly known as "Bro" in the neighborhood.

"Anybody could have got shot today," said Tanisha Reddicks.

As she talked, Tanisha Reddicks held her 6-month-old son, Jonathan. "There's too many kids over here. I could have been driving with my son over here."

The women described Stokes as a friendly person who loved children and always smiled.

"He was a good person, he would give you the shirt off his back," said Brenda Reddicks. "He's not the type to start something."

She said she and a group from her church, Exousia International on Lafayette Boulevard in Northwest Roanoke, had been planning before the Saturday shooting to stop by the apartment building to talk to the youth about violence.

On Tuesdays, church members witness to adolescents about their religious faith and the need to stop violence.

Brenda Reddicks said that she became active in the church after her own two sons were shot in separate incidents. They were 18 and 21 at the time and both survived without major injuries.

"God spared their lives," she said.

"It made me change my ways," she added.

The two women said they will be back at 6 p.m. Tuesday with their church group to talk with the youths at Afton Gardens.

"The devil is busy. Oh, yes, he is," said Brenda Reddicks.

Anyone with information regarding the crime should call the Roanoke Police Department at 853-2211 or Crime Line at 344-8500.