NEW YORK (PIX11) — An Ozone Park family and community are in mourning after the death of U.S. Army Sgt. Angel Sarah Rampersad.

The 28-year-old Queens native was killed Friday during an Iranian attack on a U.S. airbase in Jordan, according to the military.

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Rampersad’s mother and other family members were at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware Wednesday as Rampersad’s body was returned to the U.S. in a dignified transfer attended by President Donald Trump.

A flag flew at half-staff outside Rampersad’s home on 96th Street in Ozone Park.

Carlos Garcia, a neighbor who was acting as a family spokesperson, told PIX11 News that Rampersad had first tried to enlist at the age of 18 after graduating Forest Hills High School in 2015. Garcia said, “Mom asked her to go to school first, and she did, um, so she was an obedient daughter.”

Rampersad later joined the U.S. Army after getting her associate’s degree at John Jay College of Criminal Justice. Garcia said, “Her uncle is in the army, was in the army. I guess that influence had to do with it, also her willingness to serve her community and others.”

Garcia said, “I know Angel was a self-taught drummer. In her church band, she was very faithful; she was a woman of faith. She had a megawatt smile; she was loving. She was loved; she grew up in a red-blooded American family.”

Garcia said funeral plans have not yet been finalized but added that Rampersad would be buried in the New York area.

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“Sgt. Rampersad’s courage and sacrifice will be remembered not just in Queens, but across all five boroughs. My deepest condolences are with her family, loved ones, and all those grieving this profound loss,” Mayor Zohran Mamdani, a former Queens assemblyman, said in a statement.

Gov. Kathy Hochul called it an “unimaginable loss.” “My heart is with her family, loved ones and the soldiers who stood beside her.”

Rampersad was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 57th Air Defense Artillery Regiment, 52nd Air Defense Artillery Brigade, 10th Army Air & Missile Defense Command in Ansbach, Germany.

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