13-Year-Old Shot in the Head While Walking to School Dies Days Later

Theophilus Samuel was already at work when the call came.

It started on Monday morning like the others. 55 -year -old Mr. Samuel, Zucker Hillside Hospital in Queens went to work and changed the sheets and prepared a room for patients.

It was still early when he was illuminated with a call from his phone’s daughter and a son. His voices were urgent: Mr. Samuel’s 13 -year -old Sanjay was shot in the school in Queens’s Cambria Heights section.

Mr. Samuel left work and ran to Cohen Children’s Medical Center, where his youngest child was surrounded by doctors in the emergency room. Sanjay Samuel was hit behind the head, his father learned soon. The child’s brain was swollen and had extensive tissue damage. His chances of survival were weak.

According to Samuel and the police, Sanjay was pronounced dead as a losing all brain activity after having a two -day life support in the intensive care unit in the afternoon of Wednesday.

Joseph Kenny, a chief of detectives of the police department, said on Tuesday that fire was about the gang in a briefing and that the police were fired with a fight between Sanjay and a 16 -year -old child as a possible shooter.

On Thursday, the chief Kenny was looking for the child who lived near the shooting scene and known to be a başla Trouble in the region ”. Sanjay said the police were not in the penalty gang database and that they did not record a criminal record.

Death, which followed a lot of shots this summer, was horrified and broke the heart of the Samuel family.

“The last few days, it’s really hard,” Samuel said in an interview on Thursday to gather himself briefly. “Very difficult as a parent.”

According to Mr. Samuel, Sanjay was going to his high school on Hillside Boulevard, where he was in the ninth grade. A lane on Linden Boulevard had stopped with a group of men outside a Dunkin in the shopping center.

According to Chef Kenny, immediately after 8 o’clock, the 16 -year -old boy rode the Dunkin ‘car park on a scooter and confronted the group. He shouted and then the child took out a gun, sent the others with the mountain. The child then assembled the scooter and returned to leave, but before he did, the fight started again, and he and Sanjay began to punch each other. Chef Kenny, the child then hit Sanjay once and escaped.

Nazmina Poly, the manager of the Donut store, said she worked in a burial freezer when she heard a turmoil. When he went out, he saw the body of a young child lying in the concrete in the parking lot and the body of a few children standing around him.

Police, police officers and emergency health workers responded to the 911 call and took Sanjay to Cohen Children’s Medical Center in critical state. Samuel was taken to life support shortly after coming.

For the next two days, Sanjay’s father, mother and a relative stream camp in the hospital, a machine waited for him in his bed while breathing. A test on Tuesday showed that Sanjay was no longer a brain activity, Samuel said, but doctors suppressed.

His condition worsened, his face began to swell, and in the afternoon of Wednesday, after another test slate, doctors said Sanjay died.

The shooting on Monday is a series of murders in New York in recent months. In June, 17 -year -old Darrell Harris was shot during a water gun fight in the Bronx park. The next day, the 14 -year -old Jamuri grave was killed after he was hit by a bullet in the Queens apartment. A 15 -year -old child was accused of second -degree manslaughter in connection with death.

On Thursday, Sanjay’s family remembered him as a cheerful child who likes to fish, to listen to basketball and listen to Reggae music.

Sanjay’s 30 -year -old half -brother Steffon Gordon standing outside the Queens house they grew up, said he’s always trying to act as a role model. Mr. Gordon said that Sanjay often came to him for advice, but he recently tried to respect the child’s privacy.

“This was my biggest mistake – not to be more in my brother’s life, Gord Gordon said. “My brother died when he was a 13 -year -old child. This is not normal.”

Mr. Gordon did not say whether his younger brother was involved in the gangs, but from time to time it was difficult to insulate him from bad effects.

“Being a child, you just make mistakes,” he said. “Maybe you were suspended from school. Maybe you came 10 minutes late. This is a child’s mistake, this is a 13 -year -old mistake. This is here, this is an adult job.”

Taylor Robinson And Maria Cramer Reporting contributed. Sheelagh McNEill contributed.