On a stretch of asphalt stained with blood at a park in Queens on Monday evening, Shanelle Weston dropped to her knees and wept.<\/p>\n
\u201cOh, my baby,\u201d Ms. Weston cried. \u201cOh, my baby.\u201d<\/p>\n
She was crying for her son Jaden Pierre, 15. Last Thursday, Jaden was fatally shot in broad daylight at Roy Wilkins Park in South Jamaica.<\/p>\n
His killing was captured on video by at least two of the dozens of young bystanders. They watched, shouting with excitement, as a group of other teenagers surrounded Jaden and started punching him, the video shows. And they watched in horror as one of the youths pulled a gun and fired a single shot into Jaden\u2019s chest.<\/p>\n
Members of Jaden\u2019s family were among the hundreds of mourners who filled the basketball court at the park on Monday at a vigil for Jaden. They placed lit votive candles, white roses and letters that spelled out his name on the ground.<\/p>\n
Jaden\u2019s father, who did not give his name but who was identified by another family member as Gardy Pierre, addressed the crowd.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat was my life \u2014 he was everything to me,\u201d he said, his voice rising with emotion. \u201cI love you with everything in my heart, my blood, my soul.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jaden\u2019s killer has not been caught. The police released a photo on Friday of a young man they were seeking in connection with the shooting, but provided no details about his identity or age. At the vigil, New York\u2019s attorney general, Letitia James, told the crowd that the police not only know who shot Jaden, \u201cthey even know where he is.\u201d She urged the gunman to turn himself in.<\/p>\n
It remained unclear what had led to the fight or why it escalated, but the killing of a 15-year-old in a city park reverberated first across the neighborhood and then across the city.<\/p>\n
Former Mayor Eric Adams shared a video on X on Friday that was apparently taken by one of the bystanders. \u201cA 15-year-old kid was beaten and shot to death at a Southeast Queens playground yesterday. And somehow this isn\u2019t the top story,\u201d he wrote, and added, \u201cWhere is everyone else, including @NYCMayor Mamdani?\u201d<\/p>\n
Mayor Zohran Mamdani was not at the vigil and had not initially spoken about the shooting, but he addressed it Monday evening, when a reporter asked him about it.<\/p>\n