Family members of a Jersey City man stabbed to death this weekend said the victim was helping a friend of his accused killer when the man charged with the murder attacked him.
JERSEY CITY -- Family members of a city man who was stabbed to death this weekend said the 26-year-old was helping someone who was being assaulted when his accused killer attacked.
"He was helping the person," Terina Brandon said of her slain brother Troy Brandon today. "From the video we have, he was trying to help a person get up. Why would you think that he was the one that hurt the person? Why didn't you even ask?"
Terina Brandon and other family members were on hand today for the first court appearance of Froylan Lopez, 28, of Oak Street, who is charged with fatally stabbing Brandon Saturday night at the corner of Monticello and Storms Avenues. The preliminary investigation indicated that Brandon was coming to the aid of a person who was being assault, officials said.
Terina Brandon said her brother had been video recording the incident that preceded his fatal stabbing because he intended to post it online. She was among approximately eight family members who attended the hearing in Jersey City this afternoon at which Lopez appeared via video link from Hudson County jail in Kearny.
During the hearing, Lopez slumped forward and placed a hand against the wall as though trying to resist collapsing.
Lopez was arrested yesterday and charged with murder and weapons offenses related to a knife in connection to the incident that occurred at about 10:15 p.m. on Saturday. Brandon, who was stabbed in the torso, was taken to Jersey City Medical Center-Barnabas Health, where he was pronounced dead 40 minutes later, officials said.
Hudson County Assistant Prosecutor Leo Hernandez said during today's hearing that Lopez represented a flight risk and argued that his bail should remain at $1 million cash only.
The prosecutor said that when detectives went to arrest Lopez, he fled through a window and went down a fire escape. He also said Lopez is in the United States illegally, had changed his appearance after the incident and planned to change it further.
Hernandez also noted the strength of the state's case -- which he said is based on a video recording of Lopez stabbing Brandon -- increasing the possibility of Lopez trying to flee. Hudson County Superior Court Judge Sheila Venable ordered the bail remain at $1 million and that Lopez must surrender any travel documents he has.
"He was good," Terina Brandon said of her brother. "He changed his life in the past three years... He didn't want the violence anymore. You are young and you think this stuff is a game but as you get older you realize it is adulthood now and you got to do what you got to do. He had two jobs."
Brandon's cousin, Raymond Mitchell, had a difficult time expressing his loss.
"It's hard for me to talk about it," Mitchell said after the hearing. "It is indescribable. I feel very empty."
Mitchell added: "I'm not surprised he was helping someone else. He is a good kid. I would have done the same thing."
Terina Brandon said that during today's hearing, her mother was at Watson Mortuary Service in Jersey City making funeral arraignments.