On a street corner in Harlem, they struggled to understand something truly incomprehensible.
A four-year-old boy named Jahmeik Modlin was starved to death allegedly by his own parents in an apartment building steps from people who could have helped.
Earlier this week, police arrested his mother, Nytavia Ragsdale and his father, Laron Modlin, who prosecutors say had a fridge stocked with food – turned toward a wall so Jahmeik and his three siblings could not eat.
The mother called 911 on Sunday night when the boy fell unconscious after years of obvious neglect. His emaciated body simply stopped working.
In front of the family’s home on Friday, community members lit candles and let balloons fly. But no candle and no balloon could salve their own helplessness.
Both of the boy’s parents have now been charged with manslaughter and endangering the welfare of a child. As the community comes to terms with the tragic and lonely life which ended before anyone knew he was there.