Bridgeport man faces 35 years for killing friend
BRIDGEPORT — A local man is facing 35 years in prison after pleading guilty Wednesday to shooting his friend to death behind an East Main Street apartment building two years ago.
With the victim’s family crying in the back of the courtroom, Azaya “Lil Zay” Stefurak, 22, pleaded guilty before Superior
Court Judge Tracy Lee Dayton to murder, carrying a pistol without a permit and possession of a weapon in a motor vehicle.
He faces 35 years in prison when he is sentenced May 7.
Police said 23-year-old Thomas “Pickle” Asbury and Stefurak, hung out together on the city’s East Side.
According to the arrest warrant affidavit of Detective Thomas Harper, on March 16, 2022, Asbury was found lying in a pool of blood in the rear parking lot of an apartment building on East Main Street. He had been shot three times, in the lower left torso, upper chest and lower back. He died at Bridgeport Hospital.
But before he died, his brother told police Asbury had indicated to him, from his hospital bed, that “Lil Zay” had shot him.
Surveillance video from the apartment building showed a maroon sedan driving from the scene after the shooting, the affidavit states. The car was traced to Stefurak.
The affidavit continues that witnesses told detectives that they had been driving around with Stefurak in the maroon sedan when Stefurak pulled into the apartment building parking lot.
The witnesses said Asbury had come over to the car and was talking to Stefurak through the driver’s window when Stefurak stated, “something doesn’t feel right,” the affidavit states.
It continued that Stefurak then pulled out a handgun and shot the victim through the open window.
The affidavit states Stefurak later told detectives he had been parked in the lot behind the apartment building at the time of the murder, talking to the victim but denied shooting him.
Police said they subsequently found gunshot residue on the arm rest of the driver’s side of the maroon sedan.