NEW YORK — We’re hearing from the family of the 13-year-old boy stabbed to death on an MTA bus Friday afternoon.
The 14-year-old suspect in the attack has now been charged.
Candles in the shape of an S, for 13-year-old Syles Ular, sit outside his Staten Island apartment building.
“Just a cute little kid. He’s a child, you know what I’m saying? He’s a child,” a neighbor named Camille said.
Camille watched Syles grow up in the same apartment building.
Police say on Friday afternoon, Syles was on an MTA bus when witnesses say he got into an argument with another teen, who grabbed him, then stabbed him in the chest. Police arrested a 14-year-old boy who is not being identified because of his age.
On Saturday, Syles’s family visited and tried to comfort his heartbroken mother.
“He was nice, kind, smart kid. Quiet. Into sports. Loveable,” said Syles’s aunt Tasha.
She says the last time they spoke, he told her he loved her.
“He was really funny,” Syles’s cousin Shay said.
“He was the sweetest little boy,” Syles’s cousin Mimi said.
“He didn’t bother nobody … Playing basketball in the park with little kids that’s younger than him and stuff, like, that’s sweet,” Shay said.
Police say the suspect was chased down the block by two good Samaritans before police arrived. They add witnesses say gang signs were exchanged between the suspect and Syles moments before the stabbing.
“We believe this motive possibly is gang-related,” NYPD Chief of Patrol John Chell said.
The 14-year-old is charged with murder, manslaughter and criminal possession of a weapon. This only reinforces Camille’s safety concerns over her own 14-year-old son.
“You’re not even safe coming home from school. I’m worrying by 4 o’clock. I’m ready to call 911,” she said. “This is the worst thing that any mother could ever, ever, ever have to deal with.”
The MTA says it has a good account of what happened thanks to cameras inside the bus. The investigation is ongoing.
