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Teen Shot Day After Middle School Graduation Taken Off Life Support On 15th Birthday
By
Ben Yakas
Published Jul 11, 2012
Modified Jul 11, 2012
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By
Ben Yakas
Published Jul 11, 2012
Modified Jul 11, 2012
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The Brooklyn teen who was declared brain dead after being shot in late June—one day after he graduated middle school—was taken off of life support on his 15th birthday yesterday. Akeal Christopher was shot June 27th walking home from a party with his cousin and six other friends in Bushwick. “He never had a chance,” his mother, Natasha Christopher, told the News. “All this violence is hard to fathom. It needs to stop. How many children need to die before we wake up and stop this insanity?”
Police say Akeal and his friends were approached by two other teens on the corner of Jefferson Street and Evergreen Avenue around 11 p.m. that evening. According to Police Commissioner Ray Kelly, one of the suspects asked, “'Are you a part of the Lute Crew?' We’re not certain what the answer was, but two shots ring out and [Akeal] is struck in the face.” No arrests have been made, and the investigation is still ongoing. “The people who did this to my son are still on the loose,” Natasha Christopher said. “They need to be brought to justice.”
Akeal's stepfather previously said he thought the shooting could have been prevented if the suspects had been stopped-and-frisked before the melee: “I believe that if someone looks suspicious out in the streets, you’ve got to stop him and frisk him,” the stepdad had said from the hospital. “I’m from the streets, you know? I know how it is out there. Stop-and-frisk could have helped prevent what happened to my stepson.”
Tagged
Akeal Christopher
brain dead
brooklyn
bushwick
death
life support
shooting
Ben Yakas
Ben Yakas is a former Gothamist reporter.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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