1st vic was ‘inspirational’

The city’s first homicide victim of 2021 lived to ring in the New Year, only to die before he was supposed to celebrate his 21st birthday just a day later.

Gifted three-sport athlete Robert Williams was gunned down outside a notorious Queens hotel barely an hour after midnight on Jan. 1, leaving his family to mourn instead of throwing a Jan. 2 birthday celebration for the cherished young victim.

Devastated mom Robyn Williams, wearing a jacket with her late son’s face on it, told the Daily News on Tuesday that her youngest son’s last words to her on New Year’s Eve were “I love you, mom.”

“They called him Showtime,” she said, smiling. “That was his name because he put on a show when he played football ... He started playing baseball at like 5 years old. But what really got him into it was football.”

But sports were hardly his only talent.

“It was a possibility for him to have been a lawyer,” Williams said, noting he attended Nassau Community College and got an A+ in one of his law courses. “He was very smart.”

Robyn Williams wants the world to know “my baby boy” as friends and family did.

“I want my son to be remembered as a young respectable man. He was inspirational,” she said. “He was always considerate of other people’s feelings. He was kind-hearted.”

She also wants justice. “He was a good kid. He didn’t deserve this. I don’t want any parent to feel the pain we feel,” Williams said.

A next-door neighbor, along with one of Williams’ former coaches, recalled Williams (photo) as a talented baller with a bright smile and brighter future, a star on the football field, the basketball court and the track.

“A lot of times when you hear about the death of young people on the news, people will be saying good things about them,” said neighbor Margo Wilkie, who first met Williams when he was just 9.

“Well, this really applies to this young man.”

Williams’ former youth football coach with the Rosedale Jets hailed the shooting victim as a role model who was raised by devoted parents. The victim was the younger of the family’s two sons.

“This young man n was our team captain, , leader, championship p quarterback and, , more importantly, , a terrific young per- son,” wrote Jacques s Muhammad in a Facebook post. “May y

God provide the fam- ily with strength and d comfort.”

According to Mu- hammad, the slain young man’s parents served respectively as team mom and team photographer. The coach recalled how Robert’s mother “stood in the gap for some of his teammates whose parents were MIA.”

Bouquets of flowers lined the sidewalk of the victim’s home in Rosedale in a memorial to the young athlete, known to his friends as Dre. He died at Queens

Hospital after the shooting that left two others wounded, with police still looking for suspects in the bloodshed.

“He was in my second grade talented and gifted class and talented and gifted he was,” wrote one of the victim’s teacheers on Facebook. “He was also sweet aand respectful. My hheart breaks for his bbeautiful and loving ffamily.”

Williams was fattally wounded about 11:10 a.m. on New YYear’s Day outside tthe Umbrella Hotel iin Kew Gardens, whenw a fight between two groups spilled from the building into the street. Some of the men had been attending a New Year’s Eve party in a hotel room, according to WABC.

The hotel, with its offer of rooms for two at $116 a night, saw two previous shootings last summer as local residents launched an effort to shut down the business.

“The family is holding up, as much as (the mother) can,” said

Wilkie, who remembers the murder victim constantly playing ball in the backyard as a kid. “I’m still devastated. I’m still trying to get over the initial shock.”

Rodney Robinson, whose son played basketball with Williams, stopped by the family’s house Tuesday to drop off a condolence card.

“Heartbroken, saddened, heartbroken,” said Robinson of his emotions after the slaying. “Great kid. Responsible kid. Great athlete. Unbelievable teammate. His family was very involved in his life. Beautiful, easygoing and a coachable kid.”

There were 462 homicides citywide in 2020 compared with 319 in 2019 and 1,868 people shot in the city last year compared with 923 the year before.

Robinson recalled waking up New Year’s morning and chatting with his wife.

“She said, ‘The first thing I had to hear when I turned on the news is the first person who passed away in 2021,’ ” he recounted. “Then we got the phone call two hours later from one of the parents, telling us what happened.”