NEW YORK (1010 WINS) -- Mayor Eric Adams met Monday with the family of a 12-year-old boy who was fatally shot while eating in a car with relatives in Brooklyn last week as the child's mother pleaded for someone to "please come forward."
Speaking after the meeting at a home on E. 59th Street in the Flatlands, Adams held up the Nike sneakers of the boy, Kade Lewin, and repeated a question the family had asked him.
“Whose child is next?” the mayor said as he held up the shoes. “These could’ve been Jordan’s sneakers, my son.”
“This story just strikes at the heart of the trauma in our city and in our country,” the mayor said. “And when you understand the realness of this, you understand the urgency. And so when I move with the urgency and people are telling me to slow down, what the hell is wrong with you? Whose child is next? And the overwhelming number of the victims are Black and brown—overwhelming. We can replace the name of Kade with so many other names, promising young people snatched away from us.”
Kade’s mother, Suzette Lewin, spoke briefly alongside Adams, urging people to speak out if they have information in the case, as no arrests have been made.
“All I’m asking, please come forward,” Suzette Lewin said. “Please, please somebody say something. I’m asking for justice for Kade. Please. I’m asking for justice, please.”
Kade’s aunt, Jennifer Jones Ellis, also spoke at the press conference. Her 20-year-old daughter, Jenna Ellis, was critically injured in the shooting.
Adams said Jenna, who works two jobs and attends college, was struck by six bullets.
Ellis said her “young, promising, sweet girl,” who remains hospitalized, is now blaming herself for the death of her younger cousin.
“My nephew, he’s gone, no more to return in this world,” she said. “My daughter laid up in the hospital, blaming herself. Why should she blame herself?”
“This must be stopped. It could be anyone’s family,” she added. “We don’t know who is next. We just don’t want it to be the next Kade.”
Adams was joined by NYPD Commissioner Keechant Sewell, who urged anyone with information to call the Crime Stoppers hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS.
The mayor also said he'd be personally contributing to help with the expenses for Kade’s funeral and Jenna's hospital bills. He urged others to do so too by donating through Lisa S. Dozier Funeral Service.
Kade was shot as he ate a meal in the passenger seat of a Toyota Corolla parked at East 56th Street and Linden Boulevard Thursday evening.
Jenna, who was in the driver seat, was critically injured. An 8-year-old girl in the backseat, said to be a cousin, was not injured.
Police said a preliminary investigation found occupants of two dark-colored sedans began exchanging gunfire, striking the victims' car.
The shooting comes amid a spike in gun violence in the city, with shootings up 17% this year and up 71% over 2020. Adams, a former NYPD captain, has vowed to curb the violence.
“We’re going to catch this shooter,” the mayor said at a late-night press conference after the shooting. “But as long as we have guns and a revolving-door system, we’re going to continue to come to crime scenes like this. It’s time for it to stop.”
Related
Related
Related
