Roshard Charles was a picky eater. There were foods he loved, and foods he definitely didn’t. Waffles for breakfast were a favorite, as was chicken and rice. But pepperoni pizza was the best.

The workers at a 7-Eleven near his house would make sure they had it on hand for Roshard when he’d walk to school. His mother, Rochelle Charles, knew that if she walked Roshard past the store, he had to go in. The only way to have a non-pizza morning was to guide him on a route that avoided the store. “He loved pizza that much,” she said.

Rochelle said Roshard was one of the quiet ones in his kindergarten class at P.S. 375. But, she added with a laugh, “At home, he was a little different.”

Roshard was also impeccably neat. His mother said he sometimes clipped his nails by himself, and asked her to polish his school shoes every evening. He also loved the water, and showed off his swimming skills on trips to the Poconos, and on cruises to Jamaica and Haiti.

“He was very smart,” his mother said. “He wanted to be a doctor.”