‘IT’S INSANE’
Love-slay suspect’s neighbors shocked as ‘quiet’ handyman charged in hospital
Neighbors of a Bronx man charged with slaying a beloved construction worker were stunned Friday to learn that the “quiet” handyman who lived in a basement apartment was accused of such a heinous crime.
“Every time I saw him, he seemed normal. He would say ‘Hi, how are you doing?’ — you know, things like that,” said a 29-year-old neighbor in the Melrose neighborhood where accused killer Jose Everaldo Reyes lived.
“This is terrifying ... It’s insane,” the man said.
Reyes, 66, was recovering at a hospital Thursday night when cops charged him with murder, manslaughter and weapons possession for the caught-on-camera shooting of hardhat Lizbeth Mass one day earlier.
The neighbor said he sometimes saw Reyes in a construction uniform. “He always spoke about his job in City Island and would be biking everywhere — everywhere,” the man said.
Reyes also walked a great deal, said another neighbor, a 71-yearold man.
“He would walk all the way to Manhattan or he’d bike it ... He had his idiosyncrasies — like, he’d go on really really long walks,” this neighbor said.
The slaying happened Wednesday, moments after Mass, 52, introduced Reyes to her boyfriend, Dwayne Walker.
A two-minute video obtained by the Daily News captured the shocking confrontation in which Reyes shot Mass point-blank as she sat near a City Island construction site. Cops said Reyes fired six times.
After the shooting, the video showsWalker ramming Reyes with his car, then pummeling him on its hood.
Mass, a construction flagger from Brooklyn, died at Jacobi Medical Center. NYPD Chief of Detectives James Essig told reporters that Mass was a friendly figure who seemed to know everyone on quiet City Island, known for its marinas.
Walker, 58, told the Daily News that his girlfriend was “beautiful.”
Walker has not been charged. Reyes lived rent-free in his Melrose basement apartment in exchange for cleaning and taking out the garbage, his building super Carlos Chacha said.
“I never had a problem with him in seven years,” Chacha said. “He was always quiet, sociable. But usually quiet. He was alone.
“He seemed normal. I don’t know how this happened.”
On Friday, Reyes’ dark, dank apartment was locked up tight with extra padlocks. Several bags of garbage were piled up next to the door. “He wasn’t able to take out the trash,” Chacha explained.
“He was a hard worker,” said neighbor Joyce Kubi, 45. “Early in the morning and late at night, I would see him take out the trash.”
“We always talked politics,” recalled the 71-year-old neighbor.
“He was way too far left. I’m more of a centrist. His views were ignorant,” the neighbor said.
“He didn’t know what the hell he was talking about,” the man said as he fed some neighborhood cats.
“When I first heard the news, I thought it was a mistake. I guess we will never see him again.”