Family of slain man say volunteering ‘opened him up’
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JAMESTOWN -- For most of her life, Jeanne Johnson didn't know much about her younger brother, who as a child, would often shy away from others and mostly kept to himself.
"I admit I didn't know him really well (growing up)," Johnson said of Michael Bull. "He was kind of reclusive and resistant to family gatherings, that kind of thing back then.
"It was years trying to establish a relationship with him," she continued.
Following a medical scare with Bull that required her attention five years ago, Johnson said she began to reconnect with her younger brother.
She said due to Bull's bad knees, she would drive him once a week to the bank and the grocery store -- or anywhere else that required transportation.
Bull was previously married, but divorced without children and was currently living by himself in an apartment on East Sixth Street in Jamestown. For a long time, he worked as a groundskeeper at Lakeview Cemetery in the city and later as a volunteer at Community Helping Hands, a faith-based organization that provides clothes and household items as well as job training and work experience to those in need.
"It was kind of a family to him," Johnson said of Bull's volunteer work at the organization. "He made connections there."
"It helped him a lot. It opened him up," added Delores Myers, Bull's niece. "He was used to being secluded and to himself … it opened up a whole new world."
Though the two didn't speak much growing up, Johnson said she and her brother forged a relationship over the last few years. She said being in his company likely helped her brother, who for a long time suffered from depression.
However, the bond Johnson and her brother managed to create was shattered Saturday, Aug. 19, when Bull, 54, was found dead outside his apartment. Officers were alerted to a "suspicious situation" around 4:45 a.m. when they found his body. He died as the result of blunt-force trauma, police said.
Within hours, 51-year-old Brian M. Korzeniewski was arrested for allegedly killing Bull.
Johnson was told of the news by two officers with the Jamestown Police Department. She said she was shocked to learn Korzeniewski, a neighbor of Bull's, had been charged with second-degree murder.
"I've seen Brian many times," Johnson said. "He was always very nice and very kind."
Johnson said two days before the murder, Korzeniewski had locked himself out of his apartment; Bull helped him get back inside by lifting him through an open window.
Johnson noted that the two men got along well as neighbors, to the point Korzeniewski was the first person she thought of after learning of Bull's death.
"When we realized he was gone and were talking about what to do with all the stuff in his apartment I said 'Why not just tell Brian he could have whatever he wants,'" Johnson recalled telling Myers.
"I was shocked," Johnson said when told of Korzeniewski's involvement. "It just seemed so out of character and I wasn't what had happened that would have flipped the switch on him."
Myers said Bull was more like a brother to her than an uncle. Many of her hobbies -- including collecting comic books and playing video games -- came from him. She noted that Bull was an avid reader and was a history enthusiast.
But it's kindness toward others, Myers said that she remembers most of her uncle.
"He was a recluse, but he was also the type of man that would give you the shirt off his back," Myers said.
Johnson and Myers have been communicating with the Chautauqua County Sheriff's Office since Bull's murder. Both have been informed on what might have happened between the men, though neither wished to comment.
One thing that is certain, Johnson said, is that drugs were not involved. She said she's seen speculation on social media that the murder was the result of a "drug-deal-gone bad."
"He did not do drugs at all," Johnson said. "Mike was rather anti-drug. He smoked and he drank beer, but that was about that extent of it."
Both women said they have become increasingly alarmed with the amount of violence that has occurred in the city. Johnson noted in particular the area around Bull's apartment has seen an increase in the number of shootings, with one occurring just two days before Bull's death.
"I know there's a lot of hopelessness in this town, a lot of it coming from drugs," Johnson said. "There seems to be a lot of shootings and murders. This was not drug-related, but it's still violent and distressing, and we're really concerned about that neighborhood and how to reach the people there."
Nonetheless, Johnson said she's glad she had a chance to get to know her brother when she did. Growing up in a broken household, she said many in her family don't communicate with one another very often. In particular, she said her mother was very independent in life, a trait that she saw in her brother.
"I think we formed a fairly decent friendship," Johnson said. "I think we had a very good relationship at the end. If it weren't for his health issues we might have not been forced together like that."