Re: 2/26/02 - [Mascia] Waterbury Republican-American: ‘It hurts just seeing him'; Victim's family looks on in 4-year quest for justice
‘It hurts just seeing him'
Victim's family looks on in 4-year quest for justice
Tuesday, February 26, 2002
By Cara Rubinsky
© 2002 Republican-American
WATERBURY — Pat Mascia has waited more than four years to face the man accused of killing his son.
He got his chance Monday, when Anthony D. Azukas, 27, the man police say fired four shots into Scott Mascia's car the night of Jan. 26, 1998, was arraigned in Waterbury Superior Court.
One bullet hit Mascia in the head. The 20-year-old Kaynor Tech graduate, the victim of what police are calling a completely random act of violence, died early the next morning.
"It just hurts seeing him," Pat Mascia said of Azukas. "You can't do anything. All you can do is sit there. I was just nervous. You want to get these people. You want to go over there and choke them. But you got to hold it in."
Twenty of Scott Mascia's friends and relatives, including his parents, Pat and Jane, and his grandparents, brothers and sister, filled two benches in the courtroom. A few cried as Azukas, wearing a blue T-shirt and jeans, stood before Judge Richard Damiani, who set his bond at $2.5 million.
Scott Mascia, who worked two jobs and was, by all accounts, a good kid, was returning from the gym when he was shot at the intersection of Cooke and Moran streets, just blocks from his family's MacArthur Drive home.
He had pulled his white Honda Accord to the side of Moran Street, apparently to let a sport utility vehicle pass. Police say Christopher Foody, 26, of 222 Scott Road, was driving the vehicle and Azukas was in the front passenger seat. In the back were Jason Gray, 24, of Winthrop, Mass., and a fourth person police have not identified.
Foody and Gray appeared in court Monday to face charges of hindering prosecution. Police do not expect to charge the fourth passenger.
As Foody's car passed Mascia's that night, police say Azukas rolled down the front passenger side window and fired a .38-caliber revolver four times. One bullet traveled through both front windows of Mascia's car and hit a house at 14 Moran St. A second bullet hit Mascia's head, a third was embedded under the mirror of his driver's side door and a fourth hit the hood of his car.
According to the warrant for Gray's arrest, Gray told detectives that Foody and Azukas had told him they were upset because they had been "ripped off" earlier that night. According to Gray, Azukas said he was "gonna light someone up" and "someone is going to pay."
That someone was Scott Mascia, who had never met his attackers. Ten minutes before he shot Mascia, police say, Azukas fired one shot at a car on Huntingdon Avenue but missed.
After the Mascia shooting, the four went back to Foody's house, where police say Azukas threatened to shoot the other three and their families if they told anyone what had happened.
According to the warrant, Gray told police he helped Azukas put the gun in a plastic bag and bury it under some bushes next to Azukas' house.
Several days later, they took it to the basement of Azukas' grandmother's house. Azukas removed the serial number, Gray told police, and the two men used a hatchet or a hammer to smash it into six pieces. They wrapped the pieces in rags and stored them in a toolbox. A few days later, they tossed the gun in Lakewood Lake. Police, who believe bullets from the gun were thrown into the Naugatuck River, expect to search both bodies of water this week.
Detectives believe Azukas' threat was the reason the case took so long to solve.
After the murder, Foody moved to Phoenix, then eventually back to Waterbury. Gray, a student at Western Connecticut State University at the time of the murder, went back to Massachusetts. Azukas went to Jamaica, came back and then moved to East Hartford.
The break finally came two weeks ago when detectives received a tip from an informant who had read about the fourth anniversary of the unsolved homicide in the Republican-American and subsequently saw a television report on the case.
Detectives picked up Azukas at his East Hartford home Saturday. He was charged with one count of murder just before midnight.
David Channing, the public defender assigned to represent Azukas, argued for a lower bond Monday, saying he did not believe Azukas was a flight risk.
State's Attorney John A. Connelly, who cited Azukas' alleged threat to kill the other people in the car with him that night if they told anyone what happened, asked for the $2.5 million bond.
Azukas, a thin man, kept his head up and talked with his lawyer during his brief arraignment. Foody and Gray, both neatly dressed in jeans and button-down shirts, bowed their heads as they stood, separately, before Damiani.
Foody turned himself in Friday after he learned police were looking for him, and Gray did likewise on Sunday.
On Monday, Foody posted a $150,000 bond and Gray posted a $250,000 bond. Both are scheduled to appear in court March 20.
Gray could not be reached for comment Monday. A woman who answered the phone at Foody's home said he was not in and would not want to comment. Channing did not return a call for comment on Azukas' case.
Damiani actually upped Gray's bond in spite of his lawyer's contention that Gray was not a flight risk because he had driven himself to the Waterbury Police Department after he learned police were looking for him. The lawyer also said Gray, who has worked as an iron worker for two-and-a-half years, didn't come forward sooner because he was afraid Azukas would kill him. Foody's lawyer also asked for a $50,000 bond, saying Foody has two children, works a six-day a week job and lives on and off with his mother in Waterbury.
In arguing for the higher bonds, Connelly contended that both men were complicit because they had information but didn't come forward.
"It took the prodding of the Waterbury police to get Mr. Gray here after four years," Connelly said. "In fact, the only thing he did do was destroy the murder weapon and go back to Massachusetts."
"I would have liked to dismantle him," said Rich Mascia, Scott's brother, referring to seeing Azukas in court and the allegation that he and Gray took apart the gun. "I wanted to destroy him."
After the arraignment, Connelly briefed family members on what to expect as the cases wind through the court system. They said they plan to follow the developments because they want justice for Scott.
"We made a start," Harry Alderson, Scott's grandfather, said of Monday's proceeding. "I just hope they don't weasel out of it."
"I just hope Azukas gets his," Pat Mascia said. "I just hope he never gets out. To me he's a piece of scum. He's a punk with a gun. He took a life, and a good life at that."
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