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ST. LOUIS • A man on a motorcycle who was fatally shot Tuesday night in the College Hill neighborhood is the brother of a murder victim who was slain just a block away in November.

“I never stopped crying or wondering about my first son, and now I have to bury another one,” said their mother, Pauletta Portis, 50.

Police are still investigating, but don't believe the killings are related.

Anthony Douglas, 21, was shot at about 11 p.m. Tuesday in the 2100 block of East Obear Avenue. Police found Douglas lying on his right side and still straddling a motorcycle, which he’d only had a day. He had been shot in the head and chest, and was pronounced dead at the scene. Police said witnesses reported hearing several gunshots.

On Nov. 3, his younger brother while standing next to a gray vehicle in the 2000 block of Obear Avenue. He ran from the vehicle and collapsed.

Smith and Douglas both lived with their mother and older sister in the 4000 block of Nebraska Avenue, in the Dutchtown neighborhood, but they had previously lived on Obear until 2009. Douglas had just gotten his motorcycle and was on Obear to visit the home of his girlfriend’s grandmother when he was shot, family members said.

Obear is near Grand Boulevard and Interstate 70. ӣ����Ƶ' College Hill neighborhood and surrounding blocks have had several shootings and killings in recent months. Police in February identified the area as a crime "hot spot" and sent about 80 police officers there to quell the violence. That 10-day effort ended Feb. 17, with police saying they arrested 40 people and recovered five guns.

Portis looked stunned while talking to a reporter Wednesday at a daughter’s apartment in Jennings. She has six surviving sons, three of whom were linked to gang activity and are serving time in prison, she said. But she said the two sons who were slain weren’t in a gang. 

She said Douglas, who was killed Tuesday, had been arrested before for assault in the past, but the birth of his daughter four months ago was straightening him up.

“I’m not going to tell you my sons were never arrested or are lily-white,” she said. “But you’re not going to write this off as gang-related or drug-related. You’re to treat this as a homicide.”

Crystal Portis, 28, is the older sister of the slain men. She said she thinks her brothers were targeted or got caught up in a violent feud, perhaps between those who live on different streets.

“The whole thing is, this street doesn’t like this street, and this street doesn’t like this street,” said Crystal Portis. “When you see somebody outside, you’re going to shoot them just because?”

Meanwhile, Pauletta Portis said she hasn’t heard from any detective since December. She said she fears the cases will go unsolved.