WINTHROP — Mourning residents came Sunday, many bringing flowers, to the site of a chaotic incident that left a man and a woman shot and killed Saturday by the driver of a hijacked truck, who then died after exchanging gunfire with police.
Officials are continuing their investigation into the incident, which unfolded along a short stretch of Shirley Street on what had been a quiet afternoon.
The nightmarish scene unfolded in full view of residents, including children, with many scrambling for cover as bullets flew through the neighborhood.
People gathered Sunday to commemorate the two bystanders who died the day before, some placing bouquets of flowers on fencing erected outside the wrecked building.
Among the mourners was Nick Tsiotos, 66, who said he is “heartbroken” over the loss of his high school classmate and basketball teammate during the shootings Saturday.
Tsiotos said his friend, a retired Massachusetts State Police trooper, was the man shot by the suspect.
“He was tremendous. He was the best there was of humanity,” Tsiotos said of his friend during an interview across the street from the scene.
Tsiotos called him a “super human being.”
Tsiotos’s friend was born and raised in Winthrop, and was a lifelong resident. He spent four years in the Air Force and worked for decades as a police officer, he said. His friend served as a Metropolitan Police officer and as a state trooper.
“He was loved by all his classmates, all his neighbors,” Tsiotos said. “He had great character, he served with honor, he would help anybody, and that’s the kind of person he was, to go right into the terrible situation to try to save people.”
Tsiotos said he had coffee with his friend the morning of his death. Later that afternoon, he came to see Tsiotos and gave his wife some cherries. He also offered advice to his college-aged son, who is “devastated,” Tsiotos said.
Tsiotos said the hours since the tragedy have felt like “a bad dream.”
A law enforcement official briefed on the case confirmed Sunday that the man shot by the suspect Saturday was a retired state trooper.
On Saturday, several television stations broadcast video of police and other first responders saluting the trooper in the South End as the body was transported to the medical examiner’s office in Boston.
Police said Saturday the two shooting victims were a woman and a man, but have not identified them. They have also not released any information about the suspect or that person’s motives.
At the Shirley Street scene Sunday, part of the ruining building’s kitchen remained standing, with cabinets and a refrigerator still visible.
A note attached to the fence surrounding the debris read, “Praying you are dancing in the sunshine and singing with the angels. R.I.P.”
Brian Marks, 39, the owner of the destroyed building, said in an interview at the site Sunday that his “heart goes out to those families” of the victims.
He was in “utter shock” after seeing the destructive scene the day before, he said.
“I rushed down and came to what, to me, looked like something out of a movie or something,” he said. The building, he said, is a total loss.
The truck, stolen from a plumbing company, collided with a building near the corner of Cross and Shirley streets shortly before 3 p.m., according to police. After destroying the building, police said the suspect fled the truck, jumped over a fence, and engaged the two victims along the street.
The truck was owned by Rapid Flow Inc., a company with an address in Revere.
A man who answered a phone number listed for Mark Meads, the company’s owner, the company’s president, declined comment Sunday.
Bob Harrington, 63, who lives across from the ruined building, said Saturday he saw the suspect walking barefoot from the truck toward Veterans Road. He lost sight of , him, then seconds later, heard numerous gunshots.
He saw a woman who appeared to be in her 20s lying on the ground.
“I walked over to the girl, put my hand on her and said, ‘Are you all right?’” he said. “She didn’t move. She was dead.”
Further down the road, Harrington said he saw a police officer standing over the suspect, who appeared to be bleeding.
At Massachusetts General Hospital Saturday, two people who had been injured in Winthrop died, and three others were being treated in its emergency department, according to a spokeswoman.
On Sunday, MGH spokeswoman Julie Cunningham said two of those patients had been discharged. and the third remained at the hospital in fair condition.
Police said two people pinned inside a car that crashed a short distance away from the building suffered non-life-threatening injuries. It was unclear if they were among those sent to Massachusetts General Hospital Saturday.
Evan Ferragamo, 15, ran out of his Shirley Street home when he heard a loud bang, then saw the crashed vehicles. He went back into his house to check on his mother and younger brother, he said Saturday.
“I was in shock and didn’t know what to do,” he said. “My heart was racing, it’s still racing. ... I can’t believe that this would happen in Winthrop. It’s just a calm, quiet place.”
Mike Bello of the Globe staff contributed to this report.
John Hilliard can be reached at john.hilliard@globe.com. Alexandra Chaidez can be reached at alexandra.chaidez@globe.com. Camille Caldera can be reached at camille.caldera@globe.com.
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