Slain HS hoops star honored in Bx. park
Boy, grandfather killed in fire ID’d
A police chokehold victim has been charged in an alleged slashing and bias incident in the Bronx.
According to authorities, Ricky Bellevue, 35, and a 28year-old friend followed two men for five blocks before a heated confrontation at Third Ave. and Brook Ave. in Mott Haven just before noon Tuesday.
As sendoffs go, this one was nothing but net.
Dozens of community residents filled a Bronx park Tuesday to denounce violence, shoot hoops and say goodbye to a beloved collegebound basketball star who was killed by a stray bullet just days after he graduated from high school.
On what would have been Brandon Hendricks’ 18th birthday, friends community leaders and strangers filled the Jackson Houses basketball court where he used to play in Melrose to pay tribute to a promising life that in most respects was just starting.
Hendricks, 17, had just graduated from Metropolitan Soundview High School when on June 28, he was shot in the neck on Davidson Ave. near W. 176th St. in Morris Heights, about two miles from home, just before midnight, cops said.
Authorities said they believe
Hendricks was an innocent bystander. Medics rushed the teen to St. Barnabas Hospital, where he died.
His family said Hendricks was in the process of accepting an offer to play basketball at West Hills Community College in California.
“He was a great student, very family-oriented, very giving,” said family friend Dusty Figueroa-Perez, 43, who taught Hendricks in middle school. “If he saw a conflict, he never got involved. He was the peacemaker.”
The all-day event included a basketball tournament, a rally and a memorial where balloons were released.
“This afternoon I attended a beautiful tribute to Brandon Hendricks,” tweeted NYPD Community Affairs Chief Jeffrey Maddrey. “The epidemic of gun violence that’s plaguing our city is going to take all of us coming together to fix. I don’t want to see any more young lives cut short in our city.”
“Brandon Hendricks should be celebrating his 18th birthday and on his way to college,” tweeted Public Advocate Jumaane Williams. “Instead, he was taken from his friends and family by a senseless act of gun violence.”
Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. urged the community to use Hendricks’ death as an inspiration to fight gun violence.
“Brandon Hendricks was doing everything right and he still fell victim to gun violence,” Diaz said. “He was destined for greatness, and those that take a life through senseless acts of violence are robbing our communities of that greatness.”
Authorities have identified the 12-year-old boy and his grandfather killed when a fast-moving fire tore through their Brooklyn apartment early Monday.
Wisden Augustine (inset) and his granddad Joseph Petitmor,
69, perished when the blaze broke out on the top floor of their five-story apartment building on Linden Blvd. near Flatbush Ave. in Prospect Lefferts Gardens about 1:50 a.m.
Friends of the family said the grandfather lost his life rushing back into the blaze to save the beloved tween. “Joseph … returned to save his 12-yearold grandson,” wrote Yvanne Grandoit, who is organizing a fund-raiser for the now-homeless family. “Both were consumed by smoke.”
Medics rushed the boy to Kings County Hospital, but he could not be saved, officials said. His grandfather was taken to Downstate Medical Center, and also died. Two other residents were injured.
Neighbors recalled the boy’s hysterical mother as she fled the flames.
“‘My son is upstairs’ the mother screamed. ‘There’s a fire!’ ” recalled Mikerline Belizaire, 30, who sustained a deep cut in her forearm.
Belizaire was injured when the fire blew out glass from the building’s window as she was trying to call 911. “I went back inside knocking on everybody’s door, screaming ‘Fire!’ ” she said.