SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Djuan Perry got home early Monday after a deadly road rage shooting tied up traffic on Interstate 5 for hours. She was relieved to have missed the delays, but something felt off to her.
"I called my daughter and I said, 'but I sure hope that it isn't someone that I know," she said.
Perry followed the news story closely, and broke down Tuesday evening when the name of the man killed was released.
"It's like half my heart's been taken away," she said.
The man was 60-year-old, Lufino Reyes Mejorado, lovingly known as "Lou."
They were childhood best friends since they were 11 and grew up together in the Glen Elder neighborhood of South Sacramento.
Mejorado was a retired correctional officer at California State Prison Solano, according to state officials, but beyond that, Perry said he was a man of faith, a loving father, a veteran and star baseball player. He even earned a PhD, and was certified as a Mental Health First Aid responder.
"He was very accomplished," Perry said. "I've never seen him frown. He was always smiling. He was always positive, and I know he had down days, and I would talk to him... but he was resilient."
Perry is trying to make sense out of her best friend being killed in an apparent road rage altercation. The man accused shares her last name.
"I'm Djuan Perry. He's David Perry. A Perry who loved Lufino to the bone and a Perry who took him out. I don't understand it," she said.
33-year-old David Perry was booked on felony murder charges early Tuesday morning, less than 24 hours after he allegedly shot Mejorado. He will be arraigned Thursday afternoon.
Djuan Perry said she just wants to know why the killing happened and what could have been so horrible on the road that it cost Mejorado his life.
ABC10 also spoke to Mejorado's long-time neighbors who are asking the same question.
They say he was a joy and neighborly. They say he was the type who, if you asked to borrow a rake, he'd end up raking your lawn for you, and that a piece of their neighborhood is missing with his death.
WATCH ALSO:
