Generous, decent, brilliant at math — those were some of the ways 40-year-old Winston McKay was described at his funeral in Manhattan on Friday.
The Harlem-born son of Jamaican immigrants died June 10, from a bullet that police said was aimed at someone else.
"He was a quiet, mild mannered, easy going guy," one mourner said outside the funeral house. "He was just a great young man."
Police said McKay was walking his dog at Amsterdam Avenue and West 146th Street in Hamilton Heights when, across the street, Eric Bautista, seen in the surveillance video below, fired a rifle with the intent of hitting the man in front of him. The bullet hit McKay instead, severing a leg artery. Police were still looking for Bautista as of Friday evening.
During the funeral, friends and family wept after a relative read a birthday card that McKay recently wrote to his mother, Jennifer.
"Thank you for standing back and turning me loose, for helping me clean up my messes, for treats 'just because,' for putting me in a better place anytime I'm down," the card read.
"I think men that grow up with sisters are more sensitive," mourner Diane McCulloch said. "That's a good description of Winston. He was a very sensitive, loving, giving person."
Those were the qualities that McKay's husband, Terry Solomon, said bound them in marriage after 18 years together.
People chuckled and smiled through tears at Friday's funeral when McKay was described as a big teddy bear, being so tall he towered over the rest of his family.
The family says McKay was supposed to attend graduation ceremonies at Mildred Elley College this month. Instead, he will be posthumously awarded an Associate's Degree in business.
Anyone with information on the case should contact the Crime Stoppers hotline at 1-800-577-8477, or text CRIMES and then enter TIP577, or visit www.nypdcrimestoppers.com