Shock at kid’s slay
‘Fun-loving’ volunteer, 16, remembered in B’klyn
The Brooklyn teen fatally gunned down just a day after celebrating his 16th birthday was known for his love of comedy and making his friends laugh, his older brother said Monday.
Police found Justin Richey, 16, shot five times at the corner of Pine St. and Blake Ave. in East New York, less than a block from his Cypress Hills Houses home, about 5:10 p.m. on Sunday, cops said. He died at Brookdale University Hospital.
“He was a humble kid,” said Shamari Richey, 17, who was trying to make sense of Justin’s senseless killing. “He was my little brother...I’m just hanging in there.”
Shamari said Justin also had three younger brothers and two younger sisters.
Justin was an active member of his community, having volunteered in the Cypress Hills Community Center for years.
“He was a fun-loving kid. He participated in all of our activities, events that we had here,” said Candace Alphonso, the program director at Cypress Hills Community Center. “He volunteered a lot of his time to work with us, alongside us, to create programming and stuff like that, that kids his age would like to see in the community center.”
Alphonso described Justin as outgoing. “He was energetic, he was eccentric — he was just fun to be around and very nice. He did a lot of wonderful things while he was here with us. He was a very valuable participant to the program,” she said.
She said Justin would regularly turn up at summer camp when staffers started their shifts at 8 a.m., volunteering a full day’s work for no pay and helping out with “anything he could.” Alphonso had planned on hiring the young man once he was old enough to work.
“He was very involved in the community,” she said. “He recruited his peers to be a part of the mentoring program. He did a lot of speaking about the community center to his peers to get them here to the center and to learn different things.”
When asked how she’s making sense of Justin’s death, Alphonso said, “I can’t.”
A staffer at the center, Geneva Modeste, 20, knew Justin since they were children.
“He’d play with the kids, he’d go to the store for you,” she said, welling up with tears. “It’s just sad to see him not be here anymore.”
Modeste said the 16-year-old often had everybody in tears laughing.
“When I had my bad days he knew how to make me smile. That’s one thing I’m gonna miss. He made sure every time he saw you, you had a smile on your face. He wouldn’t let you walk away from him without seeing a smile,” she said.
Modeste has no explanation for what happened to Justin.
“The day after his birthday? It doesn’t make sense. He knew too many people for him to just disappear like that. He didn’t deserve that, out of all people,” she said. “It’s sad, it really is.”
Dozens of candles sat outside the entrance to Justin’s Cypress Hills Houses building on Monday.
Cops said the teen was arguing with three men on Blake Ave. by Euclid Ave. when at least one of them pulled out a gun and started shooting. Justin ran about a half block before collapsing on the ground, police sources said.
He was shot five times — in the chest, back, stomach and ribs — cops said.