Friends remember Westerly shooting victim

December 20, 2019 5:37 pm

ABC6 News,

WESTERLY, R.I. (WLNE) — Westerly is still reeling from the shooting Thursday at Babcock Village.

Suzanne Giorno lives right across the street from where it happened.

“It was just so heartbreaking,” she said. “It was very shocking.”

She was in disbelief that her friend Julie Cardinal, the manager at Babcock Village, had been killed.

“She’s just been a great friend over the years, and we’ve had a lot of fun,” said Giorno, who also serves on the Westerly Town Council. “She was full of spunk and she definitely told you what was on her mind. She was just a great, great person, and she’s going to be truly missed.”

Friends say it was a shock not only to have a tragedy like this happen in their hometown, but to lose someone so involved in the community.

Cardinal hosted two radio shows at WBLQ.

One of her former colleagues, Chris DiPaola, found out while he was on the air.

“It was like the day the Earth stood still,” he said. “I didn’t believe it at first. I didn’t want to believe it.”

She was known for her personality on the radio, and in her volunteer work around issues like women’s empowerment and the heroin epidemic.

“She was not afraid of anything,” DiPaola said. “I never saw any fear.”

And even as the reality of her loss sets in, he says she would tell her family and friends to stay strong.

“We lost a dynamo,” DiPaola said. “We lost a fiery soul that got out there and got things done. Even as we talk right now, she’s the kind of person that would kick us in a positive way and say, ‘Get back out there again, keep going.'”