Michael Perry, 37, is accused of killing Aponte in a Boston apartment on 35 Northampton St. sometime last week, the Suffolk County District Attorney said. A judge ordered him held without bail on a first-degree murder charge.
Loved ones of Aponte called police to do a welfare check on Sunday, Dec. 11, but authorities said he was dead inside the apartment when they arrived. Perry was also inside and refused to come out. He threatened officers and a SWAT team who tried to end the stand-off peacefully, but instead, he jumped out of the 12th-story window, officials said.
Perry got stuck on the window ledge on the way out and was dangling from the side of the building until SWAT team members rescued him and arrested him without further incident.
Investigators haven't said how Perry and Aponte knew each other.
On social media, Aponte's friends grappled with their grief.
"I can’t believe this has happened," a person wrote. "Jose Aponte, you were such a kind and humble person, you deserved better than this."
"One of the kindest people I’ve ever met," one person posted. "Why does bad things happen to the nicest people?"
Jose Aponte's friends and family have started a GoFundMe to help pay for his funeral expense.
"His beautiful, kind, loving soul was senselessly and suddenly stolen from us," the campaign reads. "His death will leave an indelible sense of loss and an irremediable void in the hearts of all that were blessed to have known him.
"He was a warm, joyful, funny, loving, attentive, and caring son, brother, nephew, cousin, uncle, and friend who will be deeply and dearly missed."
So far, they've raised more than $8,400 of the campaign's $15,000 goal.
Click here for more information on the GoFundMe campaign.
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