By now, most local residents have heard about the shooting spree last Friday by a mentally deranged Queens man.

On August 25, five people, at various locations in Queens County, were injured by shots from the suspect, Matthew Colleta. There was only one fatality and tragically, the victim was Massapequa Park resident Todd Upton.

According to published reports, Upton was shot while riding as a passenger in a red Toyota minivan, driven by his wife, Mary. The couple was driving along the Cross Island Parkway on Friday evening at 11 p.m., when the shooting took place. They were driving home to Massapequa after dropping off their daughter, Angela, at Marist College in Poughkeepsie.

Upton was taken to New York Hospital Medical Center of Queens, where he was pronounced dead at 5:25 a.m. on Saturday, August 26.

Upton, 51, was a longtime resident of Massapequa Park, residing at the same house on Philadelphia Avenue, where he was raised and where his own children, Erin, Angela, and Keith, also grew up. A graduate of Alfred G. Berner High School, Upton was a driver for United Parcel Service. His wife, Mary, is a special education teacher at Eastlake Elementary School.

On Monday, August 28, a wake was held at a Massapequa funeral home. In addition, a steady stream of visitors has traveled to the Philadelphia Avenue home to pay their respects.

According to published reports, Upton was remembered by neighbors as a devoted family man, who while growing up in Massapequa did such odd jobs as mowing a neighbors' lawn and helping with Christmas decorations.

Meanwhile, the suspect has been charged with second-degree murder, multiple felony assault charges, reckless endangerment and possession of cocaine. He has undergone testing at Bellevue Hospital in Manhattan. According to published reports, the suspect, who has a history of mental illness, believed that a certain street gang, whose "colors" are red, was after him. And so, all of his random targets were colored red, including, tragically, the minivan owned by the Upton family.