PITTSFIELD, Mass. - Two homes still under construction on Madison Avenue in Pittsfield are the last Miguel Estrella worked on as part of the Central Berkshire Habitat for Humanity build team.

“His favorite phrase was ‘Don’t worry, I got you,’” said Carolyn Valli, CEO of Central Berkshire Habitat for Humanity. “No matter what I would ask, he’d be ‘Don’t worry, I got you.’ And he always did.”

Estrella, 22, started working with Habitat as a teenager, was shot and killed by a Pittsfield police officer on Friday night.

According to a statement from the Berkshire District Attorney’s Office, Estrella was advancing towards officers with a knife and, after the officers unsuccessfully attempted to use tasers to stop him, one officer shot him twice.

Many of his co-workers said the description in the police report didn’t sound like the young man they knew.

“I can’t tell you Saturday I didn’t cry a few times, because it hurts real bad that he’s gone,” said Brent Getchell, construction manager for Habitat. “He was a special, special person.”

“He was a bright light of our community, someone who not only was interested in a better life for himself, but a better life for others,” said Dubois Thomas, Habitat’s neighborhood revitalization director. “I feel like, in a moment of crisis when he really needed some help, he didn’t get it.”

It’s been a very difficult few days for the Habitat staff, but Valli said they’ve come together and are working on several ideas for initiatives to honor Estrella’s memory.

“We want his legacy to be one of working hard, moving forward, having a future,” said Valli. “And also making a change, so no other family or no other community has to suffer the way that we are right now.”

The investigation into the shooting is being led by the Berkshire District Attorney’s Office, and is ongoing.