On the night of September 4, 2024, Freddie Weston, a 47-year-old man, was on his way to his job at a supermarket in Queens. His journey took him to the Rockaway Avenue subway station in the Ocean Hill neighborhood of Brooklyn. At approximately 11:15 p.m., while on the mezzanine level of the station, his life was abruptly ended. An MTA worker heard a single gunshot and discovered Weston with a gunshot wound to his head.
Emergency responders rushed him to Brookdale University Hospital, but he was pronounced dead upon arrival.
Known to his loved ones as 'Junior,' Freddie Weston was remembered by his family as a good person with a big heart who was not involved in street life. He was the youngest of seven siblings. His brother, Derrick Weston, is an MTA train operator who regularly drives a train through the very station where his brother was killed. The family was left distraught and searching for answers, believing the targeted nature of the shooting indicated a great deal of anger.
The investigation into the shooting led police to 57-year-old Donald Haywood of Clinton Hill, who was arrested on November 6, 2024. Haywood was subsequently charged with second-degree murder and fourth-degree criminal possession of a weapon. Prosecutors allege that the motive for the killing was a love triangle, stating that Haywood had stalked Weston before shooting him. It is believed that Weston had moved in with Haywood's estranged wife. Surveillance footage reportedly captured Haywood following Weston from the woman's home and then entering and leaving the subway station after changing his clothes. During his arraignment, it was revealed that upon being confronted with the evidence, Haywood allegedly told police, 'She made me do it.'
