On a stretch of asphalt stained with blood at a park in Queens on Monday evening, Shanelle Weston dropped to her knees and wept.
“Oh, my baby,” Ms. Weston cried. “Oh, my baby.”
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.
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’s chest.
Members of Jaden’s 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
Jaden’s father, who did not give his name but who was identified by another family member as Gardy Pierre, addressed the crowd.
“That was my life — he was everything to me,” he said, his voice rising with emotion. “I love you with everything in my heart, my blood, my soul.”
Jaden’s 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’s attorney general, Letitia James, told the crowd that the police not only know who shot Jaden, “they even know where he is.” She urged the gunman to turn himself in.
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.
Former Mayor Eric Adams shared a video on X on Friday that was apparently taken by one of the bystanders. “A 15-year-old kid was beaten and shot to death at a Southeast Queens playground yesterday. And somehow this isn’t the top story,” he wrote, and added, “Where is everyone else, including @NYCMayor Mamdani?”
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.
“When you see that video, as many New Yorkers have, you feel a sense of heartbreak at the fact that this has happened to a young person in our city,” the mayor said. “This is something that is unacceptable. And it is something that his family — his entire community — now has to bear the loss of. And we extend not only our condolences to the family, but frankly a necessity of recommitting ourselves to ending the scourge of gun violence in this city.”
Two videos of the shooting have circulated. In the one posted by Mr. Adams, at least three youths can be seen punching Jaden, who is wearing a book bag on his back and holds up his hands. “Fight back,” someone yells. “Fight back!”
One youth lands a direct blow to Jaden’s face, and the crowd erupts. Another video, filmed from a different angle, captures the next moment. It shows a flash of silver: A youth is pointing a gun at Jaden at point-blank range.
There is a single pop. Jaden falls instantly. The crowd — suddenly all witnesses to a fatal shooting — scatters, shrieking and sprinting away.
At the vigil, the city’s public advocate, Jumaane Williams, also wept as he spoke of the shooting and the callousness of those who filmed Jaden’s final moments.
“Why was his life not worth putting the phone down?” Mr. Williams asked, drawing pained shouts of agreement. “His life was worth saving. His life was worth protecting.”
Jaden was a student at Eagle Academy, an all-boys public school. An uncle, Eddie Washington, said that Jaden was multitalented: a basketball player, a rapper, a drummer, an actor. “The boy was incredible,” he said. Jaden’s English teacher at Eagle, James Johnson, said, “Jaden was a jovial, happy-go-lucky, down-to-earth young man.”
The former City Council president Adrienne Adams also wept as she spoke, saying that her grandson attends Eagle Academy, and it could have easily have been him.
“We need to make sure that our children, our beautiful children, have a tomorrow to look forward to,” she said.
Jaden’s great-grandmother, Nellie Washington, 80, said she had watched the video of his shooting.
“That pain went through my heart,” she said. “I felt my great-grandson’s pain.”
Maia Coleman contributed reporting.
Andy Newman has reported from the New York region for The Times for more than 30 years.
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