QUEENS — Just one day after the shooting rampage that killed two men — Arthur Lopez, a strapping young Nassau County police officer, and Raymond Facey, a beloved father and family man —friends and family members are still in a state of shock, and grief.
June Facey lost her 52-year-old husband, Raymond, in the shooting, a man she described as “the last good man that God had made.”
“My stud muffin is the greatest person in the world,” she said. “I loved him with all my heart — more than God loves little children. I can't believe that he got such a senseless death. He didn't deserve it.''
Police Officer Michael Leone said he came up through the police academy with 29-year-old Lopez, and the two spent eight years on the force together.
"Artie was more than just a cop," Leone said. "He'd give you the shirt off his back. He'd never let you down. He was like a brother to me."
Both men were killed yesterday around 11 a.m. during a shooting that began when Lopez pulled a vehicle over on the Cross Island Parkway. The driver shot him before speeding off.
That same driver shot Facey, who was on the phone with his daughter at the time, soon after that as he tried to steal his car to continue his getaway.
Police have since arrested ex-con Darrell Fuller, who has done time for attempted murder, for committing the brutal double murder.
A wake has been planned for Lopez and will be held both Thursday and Friday at the Merrick Fire House at 2300 Merrick Ave. on Long Island.
Funeral services have not yet been planned for Facey, and some family members said they are still struggling to understand how something like this could have happened.
''He pulled over to speak to my sister," said Abbigail Facey, one of Raymond's daughters. "He pulled over because he didn't want to disobey our laws, our laws of this land, of New York. We just never know why this would happen.''
"We can't even come to grips with what happened right now," Facey added. "We're just relying on our faith.''
Others questioned why the accused gunman was out on parole.
“A guy who has shot somebody before shouldn't be on the street. They let him back out to kill. Ask somebody that. Ask Andrew Cuomo that,” said Joslyn Cameron, Facey’s brother-in-law. “I'm not holding [Cuomo] responsible, but he's the man at the steering wheel. He could fix it.”
Fuller, the alleged gunman, had previously served five years in prison for an attempted murder in 2005, when Fuller shot 42-year-old Dave McDonald in a dispute over a parking space.
McDonald’s mother, Ermeline Thompson, stopped by the Facey home on Wednesday to express her condolences.
“When my son got shot, I could hardly hold up,” Thompson said in an interview. “And when that person comes and shoots somebody again, it's hard, very hard.”
“Five years? He shouldn't be out in five years,” Thompson added. “It wasn't anything big why he shot my son. My son suffered so much.''
Her son, McDonald, said Fuller shot him through the hip in 2005 as he left a birthday party in South Jamaica, and the bullet cut through to his groin.
McDonald said he still carries the bullet inside him and that the wound continues to swell and cause him pain.
“Even though they got him in custody, I'm still shook,” McDonald said.
“I'm telling myself, 'This guy could've killed me since he got out of prison,'” he added. “I'm a lucky guy. Very lucky.''
