Carjacking murder victim Raymond Facey mourned

When Raymond Facey barbecued, everyone in the row of six town homes on Fountain Avenue in East New York got something to eat.

And when he cut the grass, he also trimmed the weeds in his neighbors' yards in Brooklyn.

"If he's taking out the garbage and he sees that our garbage hasn't been pulled to the curb, he'll pull our garbage to the curb," Tameka Belches, 36, said Wednesday.

Facey, 58, died Tuesday on the Cross Island Parkway in Floral Park after being shot in the head during a carjacking by Darrell Fuller, 33, police said.

Facey was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time, an innocent bystander, investigators said.

Fuller was fleeing police after he fatally shot Nassau Police Officer Arthur Lopez, 29, officials said.

Facey's widow, June, spoke outside the family's home Wednesday, saying her husband was "the last good man that God made."

"I can't believe he got this senseless death," June Facey said. "He didn't deserve it."

Funeral arrangements had not been made Wednesday, but Facey said her husband, who came to the United States from Jamaica 28 years ago, might be buried there. "He loved Jamaica," she said.

"I have to keep going. I have to keep his name in my heart," she added.

Facey's adult daughter Abbigail said a strong faith in God was holding her family together. Facey had three other children and three grandchildren.

"If anyone's ever lost a father, if anyone's ever lost a caregiver, provider, someone who gives you wisdom, it's something you can't explain," Abbigail Facey said. "We can't even come to grips as to what happened right now, but we're keeping faith."

She noted that her father "pulled over to speak with my sister" on a cellphone rather than while driving, only to be felled by a criminal.

"He pulled over because he didn't want to disobey the laws of this land," Abbigail Facey said.

Relatives, neighbors and a co-worker said Facey's death meant the loss of a family stalwart and a community pillar. He was familiar to them as the man in dirt-stained work boots and trousers.

The dirt could have come from his vegetable garden, where he often worked, or his job as a dump truck driver at construction jobs in New York City and on Long Island.

"He loved flowers and vegetables, and loved to farm," said his brother-in-law Joslyn Cameron, of Canarsie, Brooklyn. "He was very kind."

Thomas Gesualdi, president of Teamsters Local 282 in Lake Success, said Facey was a member of the union for more than a dozen years and worked in heavy construction.

"He was just a good worker, a good driver, very dependable, always on the job," Gesualdi said.

Facey occasionally filled in as a union shop steward. On Tuesday, he visited the union hall to sign up for an Occupational Safety and Health Administration class, Gesualdi said.

"I guess he was working his way back to Brooklyn when this happened," Gesualdi said. "It's just terrible."

With Igor Kossov