BRIDGEPORT -- Gregory Weathers, who stands accused of killing a construction worker on the job in Bridgeport Thursday, was due to be in court today. But that plan changed.
Weathers, 33, who has been arrested multiple times for drunken driving and probation violations, was not arraigned because following a Thursday evening conversation with the suspect at the jail, police thought it was best he be sent to Bridgeport Hospital for a psychiatric evaluation,
A source tells Fox CT that Weathers was high on PCP when he allegedly fatally shot Jose Araujo, 30.
A neighbor of the suspect described him as very pleasant. The same was said by a close friend of Thursday's victim.
"He was a giant in his own way, not by his physical presence only, but his character," said John Gomes, a former mayoral candidate.
Gomes was actually close friends with both of this week's shooting victims: Hakeem Joseph, the convenience store clerk who cops say was gunned down by a masked man, just before 8 a.m. Wednesday, and, Araujo, who like Gomes, was a native of the Cape Verde islands off the coast of Africa.
Gomes teared up and said, "Jose didn't have a chance. I wonder if he said a strong goodbye to his son, before he died."
Araujo was shot several times after police say Weathers had asked a construction foreman for a job.
Hakeem Joseph, known to his regular customers, at the T. Market as Sonny, was described by all as a hard worker.
"He was trying to provide for himself, his 1.5-year-old son and his pregnant wife," Gomes said of Joseph
An employee of Burns Construction, for whom Araujo worked, said the slain worker did a fist bump with the suspect and introduced himself before being shot to death.
"That's a reflection of who he was," said Gomes. "If he could help you, he would."
The Cape Verdean community, about 4,000-strong in Bridgeport, is receiving a tremendous outpouring following yesterday's tragedy, according to Gomes.
"They are not only flying from Cape Verde, and Holland, as his family is, but you have them coming from Massachusetts, New York -- all neighboring cities, just to come and give their support."
Plans were still being finalized, but the wake for Jose Araujo is tentatively scheduled for Sunday at the Parente-Lauro Funeral Home in Bridgeport.
Hakeem Joseph's services were held at a local mosque Friday afternoon.