WASHINGTON HEIGHTS, Manhattan (WABC) — Jackie Billini’s friends and family say the 57-year-old would give a stranger the clothes off her back and the food off her plate.
“My eyes are swollen from crying. Always super nice, good morning – first smile you see coming out the door,” said friend Chrisalys Valerio.
It is what they will miss the most at Billini’s Washington Heights apartment building on West 163rd Street. She was with a friend, Levaughn Harvin when someone opened fire – killing them both along with the dog.
Billini has two other pit bulls – a friend took them out on Sunday. She adored them.
“As soon as she come in her car, they could know she’s at the door. They would get happy, she’d say ‘calm down, I’m coming,’ throw them kisses,” added Valerio.
Friends say Billini was with Harvin on Friday night because she was terrified of her next-door neighbor on the third floor, where tensions were high.
“It had to be a noise thing with the dogs, maybe,” Valerio said.
Joseph Cuthbert says this past winter, the 31-year-old who lives in that unit stabbed Zeus.
“When I came, the dog is lying on the floor. I had to wrap the dog in a sheet and lift up the dog,” said Cuthbert.
Things hit a boiling point in April – Cuthbert says that same neighbor attacked Billini in her apartment, breaking her arm.
“After that, she got an order of protection, so he could not come here,” Cuthbert adds, saying he has not seen the neighbor in months.
Billini worked for the city court system, which called her indispensable, saying it is still processing her loss.
“The community is not happy about it – we lost a lot,” said Cuthbert.
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