Mosholu Parkway/Tracey Towers News Bits

Story by Alicia Cruz
Theblackurbantimes.com

High winds in the Mosholu Parkway section of the Bronx took a tree down across the street from the Tracey Towers. Take a look at this picture snapped by Jordan Moss and you can imagine how strong the winds must have been in order to topple this big tree. Thankfully, no one was injured. As for the tree, well, it'll be a mere stump from now on.

by ALEX KRATZ
NORWOOD NEWS

Family, friends and local residents continue to search for reasons why 13-year-old Judah Agyemang jumped to his death from his family’s apartment on the 21st floor of Tracey Towers, a high-rise residential complex on Mosholu Parkway.

Police have not officially classified the case as a suicide, but from talking with family and acquaintances, it is clear Judah took his own life. But why? Details of the events leading up to his death offer only partial clues.

At 4:30 p.m., Monday, Nov. 9, 2009, Agyemang was sent home early from an after-school program at Our Lady of Angels, which is run by a group called Camp Interactive.
Instructors said the youngster was exhibiting unusual behavior. “He wasn’t making much sense in what he was saying,” Jesus Galvez told the Daily News, the day after his death. “He was engaged and then disengaged.” He added, “It wasn’t his normal behavior.”

Agyemang mother, Augustina Agyemang, met her son in front of Tracey Towers and the two went up to their apartment on the 21st floor. According to friends of the family who have spoken with the mother, the boy wanted to go play basketball, but his mother told him he needed to eat something before he could play and began cooking some rice and soup in the kitchen.

While cooking, his mother heard the door to the balcony slam and immediately rushed over to the balcony. She told family members that she saw her son tumbling to the ground. In her rush to get down the stairs (the elevator wasn’t coming quickly enough), she fractured her foot, said aunt, Mary Boakye.

He landed just 20 feet away from the entrance to the building. When paramedics arrived, they pronounced the bo dead at the scene.

On Tuesday, grief counselors talked with Agyemangs' classmates and teachers at Our Lady of Angels. On Friday night, residents at the Tracey Towers broke into groups to discuss the tragedy with counselors from Montefiore Medical Center and Bronx Lebanon Hospital.

Our Lady of Angels principal Sister Mary Cleary said Agyemang was a good kid and an average student. She said “he had an absolutely beautiful smile” and “was very friendly, he had a lot of friends.”
The family is holding a wake on Friday afternoon at Ortiz Funeral Home on Fordham Road and the Grand Concourse.