Victims in Ford dealership shooting were loving fathers; remembered as generous, kind

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At the Ford dealership where Steven Leet worked, there are flowers out front, and sadness inside over the loss of life. 

The business was closed Wednesday, so coworkers could grieve the loss of friends. And there is grieving also at the homes of the people who lost their lives, and shock by neighbors of the alleged killer.

In the Almaden Valley section of  San Jose, news a beloved neighbor is also a murder victim hit like a sledgehammer.

“Oh my god, he was the sweetest guy,” said neighbor and friend Donna Fleming. “I had no idea. That doesn’t happen here. That happens [to] somebody else, elsewhere, not here.”

She and others are beyond disbelief by the murder of Oaktree Gardens resident Brian Light. 

The 59-year-old lived with his two children. Wednesday morning, family members moved his white car into the garage but said nothing.

“I’ve seen people coming in and out. And I just thought there was a lot of visitors for a day," said neighbor Cathleen Opiniea. "I didn’t realize that it was my neighbor that was killed.

Fellow residents describe Light as a beautiful human being who used his love of mechanics to help others. 

“He was a prince of a man. He would do anything for anybody," neighbor Bob Hix said. "He would help all his neighbors. For others. He was a very generous, kind, person." 

Thirty-eight-year-old Xavier Souto was also killed Tuesday at the Ford dealership in Morgan Hill. He left behind a wife and children. 

At his home in East San Jose, his family declined to talk to KTVU's Jesse Gary saying the emotional strain over his loss is too much to process.

Sitting nearly in-between the two grieving communities is the neighborhood where the alleged gunman Steven Leet lived. 

His front door showed signs of forced entry, and neighbors say police were there Tuesday night as part of the larger investigation. 

Some are shocked someone they knew would be capable of allegedly taking two lives.

“That’s just shocking that it’s so close to home. I mean literally, I’m just down the street, a few duplexes down. I mean. Wow,” said neighbor Cynthia Namauag. “And I can’t imagine what the other families are going through.”

They are suffering grief and sharing an unwanted pain that now links two families and two communities.

“Just totally tragic. There's no words for it. Just shows you life is not fair,” said Hix.

Both neighborhoods plan to hold memorials for the victims, but nothing is confirmed yet as the crime and wounds are still fresh.

GoFundMe account has been set up to help the families of Xavier Souto and Brian Light.