Funeral To Be Held For 5-Year-Old Boy Who Died After Falling From Brooklyn Building

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- A funeral is expected to be held Thursday for a little boy who police said tumbled to his death from a fifth-floor balcony in Brooklyn.

It happened just before 8 p.m. Wednesday on Wallabout Street in Williamsburg.

The boy, identified as 5-year-old Meisels Shimon, fell from the balcony and landed on the ground below. Witnesses said he had been playing outside, possibly on chairs stacked on the terrace, before he fell, CBS2's Andrea Grymes reported.

Pictures from the scene showed the moments right after the fall as paramedics worked on the child. The private ambulance service Hatzolah took Shimon to Brooklyn Hospital, where police said he died.

Neighbors are still trying to make sense of the tragedy.

"It's a tragedy for the community, for everybody," said resident Joseph Yavo. "It hurts. He was a small kid."

"It's painful," said neighbor Sam Zupnik, who last saw the little boy Wednesday morning, playing outside his building before school. "He was a very, very cute, beautiful kid, and the mother and father were very, very caring, more than the norm. Extremely caring."

"I was here a minute after it happened. The mother looked devastated," another neighbor said. "I know he's a very sweet boy and the mother's a very sweet woman."

The NYPD confirms the child's family was home at the time of the accident, Grymes reported.

The investigation is ongoing.