The postal worker knifed to death over a spot in line at a Harlem deli was remembered by grieving friends and Friday as a “good person” and a “great man.”
Ray Hodges, 36, was a dedicated father who worked tirelessly as a USPS mail carrier to provide a better life to his two young sons, his loved ones told The Post.
“My guy was a good guy. You know what I mean, good brother, you know what I mean. They took one of the good ones from us and all that,” long-time friend, Swagger King, said outside Hodges’ Bronx home in the Mott Haven houses.
“Ray Guns was a good kid, you know what I mean, good brother, served the community nice .. He was doing the right thing. He’s coming out of poverty, everybody’s trying to eat. He was at work. That was some wack s–t. We miss you.”
Hodges’ brother was visibly in pain as he sat outside a makeshift memorial for the slain man. The family laid out candles in different colors and DonJulio tequila liquor bottles to honor their loved one.
“Ray was a great father, a good person, great man,” his brother, who didn’t share his name, said.
“He was an honorable man. He took care of his family and everybody….respectful.”
Hodges was on the job Thursday when he was senselessly murdered for cutting a crazed woman on a deli line, sources previously told The Post.
Jaia Cruz — who has been described by cops as a transgendered woman — had a history of threatening victims with box cutters before she allegedly killed the father of two.
Neighbors and friends have already shown up in droves to honor Hodges’ life — including some who came to pay their respects without realizing who they were memorializing.
Mrs. Jenkins, 65, burst into tears when she learned her neighbor of more than three decades was the victim.
“He is such a polite person. He holds the door for me and everybody. And he’s always nice,” Jenkins, a neighbor of the victim, said.
“He’s very nice. He talks to people. Everybody loves him,” she continued, calling his alleged killer a “coward.”
“Why? Like senseless…I mean why?”
King reminisced on his last conversation with Hodges just hours before the slaying — the lifelong friends were making plans to make Hip-Hop and R&B music together.
“I was just talking to him earlier that morning. We were just talking about the studio because we all do music. He got all the studio equipment. We just said we are going to put the microphone out,” King said.
“We’re going to tribute him. There is going to be a celebration. We got to celebrate the way we do in the hood. It’s gonna be a good one. We like family. We grew up together, all over here one 143rd section of Mott Haven.”
