Schenectady murder victim recalled as ‘great guy’

PHOTOGRAPHER: Marc Schultz

Friends and family exit the Daly Funeral Home after services for Wayne L. Best on Monday.

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Chris Hall remembered Wayne L. Best Jr.’s work ethic.

Hall played with Best on a lacrosse team during their high school years. On Monday, Hall was one of the many friends to pay final respects to Best.

Best was shot and killed early Dec. 9 on Parkwood Boulevard.

Police are seeking two men in the case but have made no arrests.

“He had more hustle than anybody else,” Hall recalled Monday after attending Best’s wake. “He was very dedicated, committed and there for his teammates.”

Best, 25, was also a lover of music and BMX bicycling, and someone those who knew him recalled as a good person who could be looked up to.

Best was remembered Monday at his wake and funeral by family members and friends gathered inside and outside Daly Funeral Home on McClellan Street to honor his memory.

Outside during the wake, friends tried to stay warm in the December chill. A nearby car played his favorite electronic music.

Shadre Domingo, 21, of Schenectady, recalled meeting Best a couple of years ago through music — Best regularly produced electronic and house music.

“He was a great guy,” Domingo recalled. “Every time he walked in, he had the room lit up with smiles.”

Noting the many friends who attended Monday’s services, Domingo said the turnout showed how well-loved Best was.

“He touched many walks of life, as you can see,” Domingo said, “white, black, Puerto Rican, Spanish, Asian, purple, blue.”

Friend Manny Ramirez, 21, said Best would make someone he just met feel like his best friend.

He played basketball and rode bikes with Best.

“When you say ‘the life of the party,’ he was the life of the party,” Ramirez said. “He was the life.”

Hall attended Best’s wake along with friends and fellow lacrosse players from Niskayuna, Peter Fobare and Rob Prendergast.

Best played lacrosse at Schenectady High and Herkimer County Community College. He made the Adirondack Region’s Empire State Games lacrosse team in the summer of 2006, where he played with the three Niskayuna players.

The three remembered Best as a genuine person.

“It didn’t matter how long you went without seeing him, he always was the one to come up to you and say ‘How you doing? Hey Rob, hey Pete, hey Chris, let’s get together.’ ”

Police have asked anyone with information on Best’s killing to contact them at 788-6566.

Family members have asked that anyone wishing to make memorial contributions make them to the Schenectady High School athletic department.

Best’s killing has become part of a string of violence in the city, one of three homicides in as many weeks. None of the killings is believed to have been related to the others.