Man Accused Of Throwing 4-Year-Old Brother Off Roof
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) - A 20-year-old man is accused of throwing his 4-year-old brother off the roof of their Brooklyn apartment building to his death on Saturday.
Shawn Smith, the victim's 20-year-old brother, was walked out of the 70th Precinct in handcuffs last night after the NYPD said he confessed to throwing Shimron Smith from the roof of the Nostrand Avenue apartment building around 3:30 a.m. He has been charged with second degree murder.
Neighbors in the East Midwood section of Brooklyn claim the man was known to have mental health problems, reports CBS2's Marc Liverman.
"He just walked around. Never really spoke to nobody," Benny Isakajv told CBS2's Lisa Rozner. "They say he had schizophrenia, so I guess that got the best of him."
First responders found Shimron unconscious and unresponsive in the building's courtyard. The community remembered the boy with a growing memorial outside his home Saturday.
"I have a little one myself. I can't fathom somebody taking my child and throwing him off the roof like that," Donna Hayward said. "It tears me apart. It hurts me to the core to even hear it."
"We have to find the way to mend the brokenness that occurred through this, but then also find a way to actually continue the conversation on mental health," said community activist Anthony Bedford,
CBS2 saw police speaking with the family earlier in the day however, their investigation into what led to the child's death is ongoing.