“I’m happy that they got somebody, but I’m hoping that they can go through the whole process and, you know, make sure he’s guilty, make sure it’s the right person, and make sure if it is the right person that he pays for what he has done,” he said.
Steven Caballero, another son of Ms. Caballero, who found her body last week, said the housing authority had “failed our families” and that he was heartbroken.
“My mother was brutally murdered, brutally murdered,” he said, struggling to speak. “I’m sorry this is tough on me, it’s still fresh. I can never get the vision of seeing my mother out of my eyes.”
He said the families did not want condolences from the housing authority or other officials.
“We want justice, we want action,” he said. “My mother’s friends, they still live in this building, they need to be protected.”
Mr. Gavin had been arrested several times, according to available police and public records, though mostly for low-level drug dealing, and not at all since 2010. Details of the cases were not readily available.
His older brother, Leon Gavin, spoke to The Times after Ms. McKinney’s death was ruled a homicide in 2015. He said he said he thought she had died of a heart attack and was shocked when detectives came to his door.
“Get the heck out of here,” he said, recalling his reaction. “Who would do something like that?”
Leon Gavin died last April. His younger brother then took over his apartment, 6E.
Sheelagh McNeill contributed research.