SCHENECTADY — An 18-year-old man was shot in the head early Saturday on a neighborhood street near Central Park, the third homicide in the city this year and the seventh in the Capital Region since January.

The victim was identified as Foday Kopoto, a Maryland resident visiting family in Schenectady, said police Lt. Brian Kilcullen. He arrived Friday to visit his aunt, a family friend said.

Kopoto’s body was found in the front yard of a house on Becker Street, near Elder Street and about a block from Central Park, at approximately 12:45 a.m. by officers, Kilcullen said.

“Someone heard a shot, saw the body and called the police. We were there in two minutes,” Kilcullen said.

The neighborhood is predominately residential, he said.

Korpo Degbeh, a friend of the family, said her brother, Tarlee Lamadine, and several others were with Kopoto shortly before he was shot. They were leaving the home of a friend on Becker Street when a car pulled up, Degbeh said.

“My brother is saying that they were walking to their car and this car pulled up. One had a gun,” she said.

Kopoto’s friends scattered, but Kopoto did not move fast enough, Degbeh said.

“They just shot at him,” Degbeh said. “We don’t know who these people are who did this to us.

“They shot him like an animal,” Degbeh said. “They didn’t say anything.”

Degbeh was in Ohio Saturday, distraught and breaking into sobs several times while being interviewed.

Kiulcullen said the car being sought is an older compact with four doors; it contained at least two black males.

Degbeh said she and Kopoto’s mother immigrated to America from Liberia in 1996 to escape war’s “killing there.”

Kopoto’s mother lives in Minnesota.

“It’s not right,” Degbeh said. “Please help us find out who did this to him. He was very likeable and had many friends. He was always at our house. He always comes back for vacation to visit his aunt.”

An autopsy was scheduled on Kopoto’s body Saturday at Albany Medical Center Hospital, Kilcullen said.

Anyone with information about the shooting is asked to call the Schenectady Police Department Office of Field Intelligence at 788-6566.