A suspect accuse of shooting a father of three to death in a Brooklyn subway station stalked and executed the victim over a twisted love triangle, prosecutors said.
Donald Haywood, 57, allegedly murdered 47-year-old Freddie Weston because the victim had moved in with the suspect’s estranged wife, prosecutors said at Haywood’s Brooklyn Criminal Court arraignment.
“She made me do it,” the accused killer told cops after his arrest, according to prosecutors — a statement that made the victim’s family members gasp in the courtroom Wednesday.
Weston was headed to work when he was shot Sept. 4 inside the Rockaway Ave. station for the C line in Brownsville.
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New York Daily News Front page for Sept. 9, 2024: Subway operator tells News of his grief in pulling train into Brooklyn station where brother shot dead. Freddie Weston, 47, was shot dead on his way to work Wednesday night in this Brownsville station. His older brother, a subway operator, told the Daily News of his grief during every shift when he has to pull his train into the Rockaway Ave. stop.
Haywood followed Weston for blocks from the woman’s home before shooting him in the back of the head, prosecutors allege. Surveillance video shows him tailing Weston, entering the subway station then coming back out and changing clothes, according to prosecutors.
When cops confronted Haywood with surveillance images, he told them, “That looks like me. She made me do it. I’ll tell the rest to my attorney,” it was revealed at his arraignment.
“Oh my God! I knew it,” one of Weston’s family members blurted out after hearing what Haywood said.
Weston was living in the Binghamton area before moving in with the woman around June, his sister, Lenice Weston, said.
She didn’t know about any past interactions between Weston and Haywood, she sad.
“He didn’t tell us anything if they was having problems or anything. He never mentioned none of this to us. He made it seem like everything was OK,” she said.
Their brother, Derrick Weston, said he didn’t believe Freddie Weston had ever met the alleged killer and puzzled over why the killer waited until his sibling went into the train station before opening fire.
Derrick Weston, 53, works as an MTA train operator and he told the Daily News that his train passes through the Rockaway Ave. station every day.
“So now I’m just trying to find out what happened to my brother. So I’m just asking question after question after question,” he said.
Theodore Parisienne for New York Daily News
Freddie Weston was shot in the head on the mezzanine level inside the Rockaway Ave. station for the C line in Brownsville, Brooklyn, just before 11:15 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 4, 2024. (Theodore Parisienne for New York Daily News)
Freddie Weston was shot in the head on the mezzanine level inside the Rockaway Ave. station for the C line in Brownsville, Brooklyn, just before 11:15 p.m. on Sept. 4.
Haywood’s lawyer, Douglas Appel, wouldn’t comment the allegations against his client.
“My office is investigating, and until we have some more time to look into this, I’m not going to have a statement,” he said.
Haywood, who’s charged with murder, remains held without bail on Rikers Island.
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