Mourners remember ‘awesome kid’ killed at New York City school

NEW YORK — Dozens of mourners attended a dawn funeral service Saturday to grieve a 15-year-old student stabbed to death in a Bronx classroom, the first schoolyard killing in New York in more than 20 years.

Authorities say Matthew McCree was fatally stabbed last month at the Urban Assembly School for Wildlife Conservation by another student believed to be a victim of bullying. Another classmate, who tried to intervene, was critically wounded.

Tearful family members remembered the boy as an “awesome kid” as classmates looked over the casket where McCree lay in a white suit.

A wake Friday night was attended by more than 100 family members, classmates and Democratic Mayor Bill de Blasio.

Abel Cedeno, 18, has pleaded not guilty to murder and attempted murder. He is alleged to have carried out the killings with a knife purchased after weeks of homophobic taunts.

Police said McCree and his friend, Ariane Laboy, 16, had been throwing broken bits of pencils and paper at Cedeno’s head during history class on Sept. 27. Authorities said Cedeno excused himself to go to the bathroom and returned with a switchblade knife, which he plunged into McCree’s chest and back. Laboy was stabbed when he tried to intervene.

McCree’s mother said the bullying story “surprised” her. “I’d like to know where that came from. My son had no problems at school.”