OLD BRIDGE — A posting on Bryan Breen's Facebook profile lists 100 truths about his life. They are simple confessions and preferences filling a page and offering insights into a life cut short:
Eyes over lips, jeans over sweats, finding the love of his life over 4 billion dollars.
Breen, 24, was was one of two people gunned down early this morning at the Pathmark store on Route 9 in Old Bridge when a co-worker open fired shortly before 4 a.m. Cristina LoBrutto, 18, also died in the shooting before the gunman, Terrance Tyler, killed himself.
Friends and neighbors described Breen's life as happy and peaceful, a far cry from the violent end he met.
"He was an easy going kid, he usually seemed happy," said Jay Loftus, 24, who attended Old Bridge High School with Breen. "I never saw him in a bad mood. He never had anything bad to say.
Breen, who graduated high school in 2006, attended Middlesex County College in Edison from 2009 to 2011, taking liberal arts classes, the school's vice president Patrick Madama said.
Friends and neighbors said Breen loved punk and rock music and writing.
"We were the outcasts," in high school, Loftus said of Breen and the group they sat with in the cafeteria. "But not in the sense that we were the weirdos. We had our own group of friends and we were comfortable being ourselves within that group."
Breen was also known for his sense of humor, friends said.
Allison Marx, who graduated from Old Bridge High in 2006, said Breen kept her "sane" during a "boring" math class they were in together.
"He was funny," Marx said. "He knew how to make me laugh."
Today, Breen's family gathered in the backyard of their Jefferson Avenue home in the township's Laurence Harbor section, consoling one another. They declined to comment.
But a neighbor, June Launay, described Breen as a polite and courteous neighbor. Mild mannered with a husky build, he was known for the white Chevy Malibu he drove.
"He was a really nice kid," Launay said. "He's always been polite. He's always been friendly and outgoing."
Video: Prosecutor gives some details on shooting at Old Bridge Pathmark Middlesex County Prosector Bruce Kaplan speaks to the media with some details on the shooting this morning at a Pathmark supermarket in Old Bridge. The 911 call came at 4:01am and when police arrived they found two victims dead and also the body of the shooter, apparently from a self-inflicted gunshot. Video by John Munson/The Star-Ledger Watch video Launay said her son grew up good friends with Breen and graduated with him from high school.
"He's just a normal kid. He wasn't a kid you ever worried about," Launay said fighting back tears. "We're all shaken up over here."
Christine DeuPree, who lives around the corner and went to high school with Breen, said she saw him for the last time a few days ago as he walked into his house.
"He turned around and waved at me," she said.
In his 100 Facebook "confessions," Breen includes some light-hearted admissions like crying at the end of "Dawson's Creek" and a persistent fear of spiders.
He also looks to the future, writing that he wants to one day get married and have children and that he believes in miracles, kissing on the first date and heaven.
Asked what he would do if the world was going to end in 2012, he answered simply: "Enjoy my life."
NJ.com staff writer Anthony G. Attrino contributed to this report.
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