"You couldn't have asked for a better person in a neighborhood like this. He was willing to help everybody."
That is how North Trenton Pharmacist, Arjun Reddy Dyapa is being remembered. He was known around town as "Mr. Reddy," they say ready he was to help anyone who needed it.
"Sometimes his wife would get upset about him giving the medicine, but he'd say they don't have the money, so he would help out," said Beverly Smith of Trenton. "He has helped me one time."
Residents like Beverly Smith cannot make sense of his brutal murder. Friday evening around 6:30, police say the 54-year-old was gunned down after he refused to hand over pills to a robbery suspect. Mike Greenfield owns the barbershop next door, and has known Reddy for close to a decade. He says he heard the gunshots and immediately ran to help.
"At the time, I had a physician in my chair. I was cutting her hair, and just so happened - I'm a retired nurse - so the both of us went over and we started doing CPR on him," Greenfield said. "He's going to be missed in this area. It's not going to be the same around here without him."
But Reddy could not be saved. Saturday, as police continued to search for the suspect, Action News learned he was important to quite a few people. At his home, his family and friends gathered on his driveway to pay their respects. They would not go on camera, but they told us he was an important leader, and founder of the National Telugu Association. Telugu is the native tongue of his southern Indian roots.Police say they're looking for an 18- to 19-year-old black man with dreadlocks. They ask if you know anything to call 911.
