Shooting incidents in New York cities and schools are becoming common day by day. Recently, a teenager was brutally shot after leaving a summer school program on Monday in Bensonhurst. A funeral was organized for the teenager in Brooklyn on Thursday. The pain in the hearts of the family members of the boy was hard to illustrate. Even neighbors walked behind his casket.
15-year-old Foridun Mavlonov was not the intended target, as per Spectrum News. His grandmother talked with the media prior to the funeral services on Thursday with the help of the translator Brooklyn Councilman Ari Kagan.
“He was always helping everybody. He was peaceful,” said Kamalova through a translator.
He was highly admired by his family. “He was a good boy! Whoever shot him deserves no freedom,” said his grandma, Umaro Kamalova, to CBS New York’s Hannah Kliger in Russian.
Firdaus Mavlonov, the father of Mavlonov, expressed his grief in an agonizing interview. He made a plea for prayers to guide his son to heaven. With tears streaming down his face, he reminisced about his young boy, “My golden boy. Where will I get another like him? He helped his sisters and brothers. He helped me when I was working, he helped me with everything… Remember him, punish his killer,” he said.
A large number of people gathered at the mosque to mourn and pray for the young boy and seek justice as soon as possible for his demise. The investigators are still striving for the main suspect of the crime who is responsible for firing the fatal shot, though they have identified the suspect. The mayor of the city was significantly moved by the tragedy and spoke for the immediate need to address the gun violence that is claiming the lives of several innocent youths.
“It’s my responsibility to ensure fathers are not burying their children. My heart goes out to you, I am so sorry. And as I pull the casket along the street, I must lead from the front,” Adams says.
Mavlonov’s family came to the United States more than a decade ago. Mavalonov was also born in his hometown Samarkand, Uzbekistan. He was highly proud of his heritage, but his love for America was also extensive.
“He was very proud of his heritage, but he also loved America so much. So it’s an immigrant community, everybody is supporting each other,” says Brooklyn Councilmember Ari Kagan.
A local martial arts champion, he dreamt of becoming one of America’s finest fighters. He was one of six kids and his loss had severely devastated all who knew him.
The grandmother Kamalova expressed her intense hope while grieving that her grandson’s death would be the last to die of gun violence. “My grandson should be the last child to die of a bullet. So no other kid dies like this,” says Kamalova based on CBS News.
The nation that had been a beacon of hope for Mavlonov’s family, left his family amidst the sorrow. The Community intends on making a safer society for children to honor his memory.
In the investigation process, the police revealed that the shots arise from an argument between two groups, but it had no connection with Mavlonov. With teary goodbyes, his casket was carried out of the mosque to bring to the cemetery where he was laid to rest.
NYPD asked anyone with relevant details to come forward and cooperate.
