HIS BEST FIEND
Teen slain by pal for iPhone: ma
The mother of a 15-year-old shot dead in Queens choked back tears Sunday as she described how her son was killed by his best friend over an iPhone.
“I know the friend that killed my son,” grieving mom Annie Johnson said a day after Trevor Rhudd’s maimed body was found in the stairwell of their Edgemere building.
“My son’s best friend killed him,” she said through tears, declining to name the alleged shooter as she dabbed at her face with a towel. “He was being robbed for his phone.”
Johnson then began sobbing and collapsed into a relative’s arms.
“I saw my son dead on the ground with his mouth open. I can’t get that out of my head. They turned his pockets out to steal his Christmas money,” she wailed.
A family member estimated the teen had been carrying some $200 to $300 in cash at the time of his death.
Rhudd died of a gunshot wound to the abdomen, according to authorities. It was not immediately clear which version of the iPhone he had, but Johnson said one of his pals later returned it to her.
She said she warned her son about the friend who she believes killed him.
“I never liked that kid,” Johnson said. “I told that kid, ‘I don’t like you and I don’t trust you and I don’t want you hanging out with my son.’ But my son trusted everyone and liked everyone.”
The lobby of the Beach 41st Street Houses Sunday was aglow with candles, spelling out Rhudd’s nickname: Bubba.
“They had four kids waiting for him. They rushed him out of the house to kill him,” Johnson tearfully explained as she described how Rhudd had been called by his killer.
“The last number on his phone was the number of the kid who killed him,” the mom sniffed, adding that officers showed her footage of the last moments of the teen’s life — though the clip did not include his murder.
Police wouldn’t confirm that he was shot over his phone or that a friend killed him, citing an “ongoing investigation.”
Witnesses told cops that Rhudd, who had prior arrests as a juvenile, was a Bloods gang member, according to a police source.
Miles Sutton, 31, was arrested after the shooting because he had a gun, but cops said the firearm was not the same kind used to kill Rhudd.
Sutton was charged with criminal possession of a weapon, tampering with evidence, and marijuana possession, according to police.