Sixteen-year-old Lenny Pierre was practicing with the John Bowne High School basketball team in Queens, N.Y., on Wednesday, when he began feeling lightheaded and collapsed. School staff called 911 and he was rushed to a local hospital.
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โIโm in shock. I was at work and got a call saying that he was lightheaded and he collapsed. My son donโt have no health problems,โ his mom, Edna Georges told the New York Daily News. โI donโt know what went wrong.โ
Georges said she got a text from her son early that morning saying he was headed to practice and that she became concerned when she texted him and he didnโt respond. She would eventually receive a call from her sonโs coach telling her that Lenny was in the hospital.
The teenโs mom called Lennyโs uncle, Daniel Georges, who rushed to the hospital.
โWhen I had got there, they had already finished CPR and he was dead,โ he told the Daily News. โHe was perfectly healthy, played basketball all the time, nothing out of the ordinary at all.โ
Lennyโs family told the newspaper that he was a good kid who never got into trouble and loved sports.
โMy sonโs gone too soon. I truly will miss my son forever. Thatโs a big hole in my heart,โ his mom said. โThatโs my first born. Even if I have another son itโll never be Lenny, my sweetheart, my sweet son. I donโt know how. Healthy, young, talented.โ
The schoolโs chancellor, Richard Carranza, told the Daily News that Lennyโs death is a tragic loss.
โThis was a tragic loss, and my heart is with this studentโs family, team and school community,โ Carranza said. โWe will provide additional guidance counselors and support to this school community for as long as it is needed, and we are working with NYPD and agency partners as they conduct a thorough investigation.โ
The cause of Lennyโs death was not immediately known.
โOut of the kids in this neighborhood heโs one of the few kids that goes to school, goes to his sports, and minds his business,โ a neighbor of Lennyโs told the newspaper. โItโs a very respectable family. A lot of kids his age youโll see on the corner, but never him.โ
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