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Broken skateboards, melted candles, flowers, cigarettes and hand-written cards at the 15th Street entrance to Prospect Park formed a makeshift tribute this week to Carroll Gardens teen Sharif Abdallah, who died on Sunday after a scuffle inside the park.
But for friends of Abdallah, the shrine took on less of a somber air with the news on Tuesday that cops had charged four people in the fight that preceded to his death.
Abdallah, 17, a senior at Xaverian HS in Bay Ridge, collapsed just after midnight on March 8 near Bartel Pritchard Square after he and his pals clashed with teens and an adult inside the park in a fistfight sparked by name-calling, friends said.
Paramedics transported the Henry Street adolescent — who was known to friends as a talented caricature artist — to New York Methodist Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
The death stunned friends of the shaggy-haired, light-spirited teen who aspired to become a graphic designer.
“It’s not right. He was too young to go,” said one acquaintance, who stood next to a simple and stark hand-written graffito: “May 6, 1991 — March 7, 2009, RIP.”
“I just keep feeling like if I had been here, things might have been different.”
A parent of one of Abdallah’s friends was also shocked by the news.
“It all happened so fast. He was at my house at 8 pm and now he’s gone,” he said.
The outpouring of tributes to Abdallah were not universal, however. People who live near the circle at the southwest corner of Prospect Park have long complained about kids hanging out in the area well after dark — as well as occasional fights and incidents of under-aged drinking.
The cause of Abdallah’s death has not yet been determined — though friends said he suffered from a heart murmur.
Cops charged Angelo Bracco, 42, Eric Bracco, 18, Christian Bracco, 16, and Domenic Barbara, 18, with gang assault on Tuesday. Their lawyer told The Brooklyn Paper that he was confident that the medical examiner’s report would show no wrongdoing.
— with Heather Holland
©2009 Community Newspaper Group
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