UPDATED: 11 a.m.
Sanford Police are investigating the murder of a 36-year-old Sanford man at the Prince Downtown Motel on Carthage Street.
Marquas Sintress Roseboro was found in the parking lot by police at 5:55 a.m. Monday with a gunshot wound. He was transported to Central Carolina Hospital, where he was pronounced dead by emergency personnel.
No suspects have been publicly identified, and no arrests have been made. Police are asking anybody with information to contact SPD’s Investigative Division at (919) 777-1050.
The Prince Motel has long been a problem area for Downtown Sanford, as reported in an April 2019 cover story of The Rant Monthly. Despite suggestions then that city officials would work with surrounding businesses and homeowners to mitigate the crime and other problems originating from the motel, little has been done in the past two years to work toward change.
The Rant will update this story when information is made available.
It’s past time for the City and County to condemn this site. All that is needed is a stated public purpose. Perhaps the County needs some more office space. Perhaps the City needs a police substation. Just gin up the reason and do what needs to be done for the sake of the commercial and residential value of the neighborhood. The owner of the property has no incentive to curtail anything happening there. The police are constrained because the power to address crap like this is not with law enforcement but with code enforcement and economic redevelopment. Tear it down and build some affordable apartments. Tear it down and make a park.
So the innocent children and mothers that live there are to do what?? The majority of persons living at the Prince are not criminals but cannot afford any place else. Why should they lose their only option to another splash park, substation or other middle class fair?
Why not place a substation in the Prince?
Lease the rear of the property that is currently boarded up and establish a police presence. It would deter crime, make it safer for the residents and provide the owner with capital to fund renovations.
Win for the hotel residents…
Win for the neighborhood…
Win for the owner …
Win for the city.
Crime intervention with compassion
Don’t kid yourself. The property is out of character with the neighborhood. It has been out of character in the neighborhood for 20 years. It is a nexus for trouble that Sanford does not need. There are ALWAYS other places. County and City Staff in the housing and rehab areas can find alternate situations, but a place like this should not be allowed to continue to negatively impact the neighborhood.
Sanford suffered from piss poor planning for decades. The Prince is just a manifestation of errors made in the 70’s and 80’s.
Let’s start with where affordable short term housing should be. It should be in walking distance to a legitimate grocery store. It should be in walking distance to a legitimate laundry mat. It should be in legitimate walking distance to basic retail where you can obtain basic items, not novelties, etc.
Downtown Sanford offers none of that and has not offered any of that in the decades since the Winn Dixie, A&P, and Piggly Wiggly went away. Even a flea bag hotel should be where hotels are normally located. Carthage Street is an institutional business street and the neighborhood heading back toward St. Clair School is for people to build equity in starter homes or for people who like older and historic neighborhoods.
What the location of the Prince does offer is back and forth foot traffic between social services, a couple of convivence stores, and the Hospital. It’s a great recipe for the street level drug trade, prostitution, and all the other ills that go with transient places like this in a location like this.
None of this means you don’t have drugs or prostitution in other parts of Sanford because they do, however it’s not out on the street pulling down property values.
Situations like this never get better own their own. Situations like this always end up costing the public – one way or the other.