FLATBUSH — A Brooklyn father was shot to death Wednesday outside a local elementary school after he confronted a group of men that had robbed his teenage son, police and family members said.
Gerald Cummings, 38, was outside P.S. 6 The Norma Adams Clemons Academy at 43 Snyder Ave., near Bedford Avenue, when he and more than a dozen men started arguing about them mugging 17-year-old Gerald Sealy, an NYPD spokesman and family members said.
"His son got beat up from multiple guys out there. They took his son's hat, they beat him up, they tried to take his iPhone," said Eric Saunders, 34, who worked with Cummings at a medical lab. "A father's going to stand up for his son. [He was] just trying to get his son's stuff back."
Police could not immediately confirm what was taken or the time and location of the incident involving Cummings.
An NYPD spokesman said Cummings and the group had started fighting when one of them shot the 38-year-old father in the head and back, police said.
"I heard one shot," said Samaq Moseb, 58, who works at nearby Brother's Deli.
Cummings, who lived nearby on 18th Street, was pronounced dead at Kings County Hospital, police said.
The group fled and there were no immediate arrests, officials said.
On Thursday morning, Cummings' wife wept in her family's home, mourning her beloved husband.
"He never carried no malice in his heart. He encouraged me to follow my dreams," said the grieving widow, Migdalia Cummings.
"He was a loving father and devoted friend. He was a good friend. He gave his all to anybody," she added.
Cummings' friends were heartbroken by his sudden death.
"He was very humble, a good father, good friend, very respectable," said neighbor Karen Johnson, 32.
Police said they don't believe the shooting has any connection to the school.
Still, neighbors were shocked to learn about deadly violence so close to the elementary school that serves about 678 students from kindergarten through fifth grade.
"It's very bad — lots of kids over there," Moseb said.
"I've been here eight years. It used to be a good area. It changed. There's a lot of shots over here," the deli worker added.
