End of line for ‘big guy’
After B’klyn slay, pals say he was trying to straighten life out
An ex-con who died after he was shot and stabbed in a Brooklyn housing complex was remembered Monday in his neighborhood as a troubled man with a volatile streak.
Yet despite a checkered past and the violent way 31-year-old Waleek Watford died, residents of the Brownsville neighborhood where he was killed were still saddened by his death, even those with whom he had run-ins.
Cops said Watford was stabbed and shot at the Langston Hughes Houses on Sutter Ave. near Rockaway Ave. shortly after 10:30 a.m. Sunday.
He was shot twice in the left shoulder and torso, and stabbed multiple times around his body. He was rushed to Brookdale University Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Watford lived in Rosedale, Queens, but spent much of his time in and around Brownsville, according to cops, who said Watford had “numerous” violent felony arrests.
There have been no arrests in his killing. George Mack, 35, who lived at the same Queens men’s shelter, said Watford had been trying to rebound from some difficult times.
“This is a shelter, so people come here and he came here and the minute he got here, he was focused,” Mack said. “He was with the case workers, he was seeing what he could do, he was working. He seemed like he was trying to get his pieces in place.”
Mack said he last saw Watford a couple of months ago.
“He was talking to the case workers a lot so I was assuming that he had a job,” Mack said.
“He left here every morning. He was up at the crack of dawn every morning. He was kind of big. He was tall and big. So some people were intimidated by that. That didn’t apply to me. He seemed wholesome. Wholesome like, ‘Hello, goodbye, hey what’s up, how you doing?’ I mean he was trying. He was trying to move forward. We had brief conversations. He was cool. He seemed cool. I don’t know guys’ histories.”
Officials said his history included ongoing cases in the Bronx for criminal mischief and in Brooklyn for drug possession and menacing with a weapon.
Watford’s old roommate at the Queens shelter, who would only give his first name, Steven, 35, said after Watford moved to the Bronx some months ago they’d lost touch. He said Watford has a young son but wasn’t married to the child’s mom.
“He never really talked about [his son and the baby’s mother],” the ex-roommate said. “He said he just sent them money. It was taken right from his check when he was paid. Straight to her.”
The former roommate said Watford was anxious to get out of shelter living, but was surprised he wound up in Brooklyn since he’d gotten an apartment in the Bronx.
“They was really rushing him outta here, because he was being aggressive toward the staff,” he said. “They was really scared. That’s why they worked quickly for him. His place was close to Yankee stadium, he said, like a block from Grand Concourse.”
“He’s so big, he look aggressive,” the ex-roommate added. “He would do (stuff) like playing around but for his size you’d think he was really serious. When the staff changed all the rules, they came and tried to take personal property. A lot of us wasn’t happy. Whatever didn’t fit into two suitcases they would randomly take stuff from people. Nothing good comes out of here.”
According to a Brownsville store owner, Watford apparently had a beef with a local gas station owner.
Two weeks ago, the owner said, Watford ran into the store and hid behind the deli counter and asked employees there to call the police because someone was going to kill him.
“We call the police,” the store owner said. “The police walked in, and he walked out like nothing happened. The police said forget it.”
“I told this man to stay away from our gas station,” the owner said. “He just came from the neighborhood. He used to stand there on the sidewalk.”
“I know who he is but to be honest I never really interact with him,” said one Brownsville resident. “We knew he was familiar in the neighborhood.”
She also lamented the effects of the coronavirus pandemic and the level of violence in the neighborhood.
“So much death with this pandemic,” she said. “We’re not cold people but we average, as far as friends, we’re losing maybe five a week.”
Another Queens shelter resident recounted that Watford gave off positive vibes.
“He was waiting to get a voucher so he could start moving, start finding apartments,” that resident said. “Everybody wants to get out of here. It’s terrible.”