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8-Year-Old Boy Killed by Flower Pot Was a Passionate Athlete, Neighbors Say

By  Trevor Kapp and Noah  Hurowitz | April 28, 2017 3:07pm | Updated on May 1, 2017 8:49am

 Kevin Reilly, 8, was a sports lover with an infectious smile, according to neighbors.
Kevin Reilly, 8, was a sports lover with an infectious smile, according to neighbors.
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Gofundme

BROOKLYN — The 8-year-old boy killed Thursday when a flower pot abruptly crashed down on him outside his Marine Park home was an adorable little athlete with an infectious smile who came from a sports family, neighbors said.

“He was such a pleasant little boy, always smiling,” said Frankie Mignano, 47 a former coworker of Kevin "K.J." Reilly's father. “He loved sports. You name it, he could play it.”

Reilly was attempting to retrieve a basketball from a flower pot at his home on Ryder Street near Avenue U at about 5:45 p.m. Thursday when the structure suddenly crashed down and hit him in the head, police said.

He was taken to Coney Island Hospital but couldn’t be saved.

On Friday morning the house sat largely empty, with several mourners going in briefly at about noon and coming out with armfuls of posters, including a pennant and a poster shaped like a New York Giants helmet. The cement planter sat in the yard underneath the window from where it had fallen, with a forgotten basketball lying next to it.

Reilly was a passionate baseball player who played in the Gerritsen Beach Little League, which was slated to honor him Friday night, according to neighbors.

“There are no words to say to help anyone feel better… this (is) going to hurt everyone in this community for a long long time to come,” the league posted on its Facebook page.

Reilly’s grandfather was legendary Sheepshead Bay High School Football Coach Richard Reilly, who stalked the sidelines at the school for decades.

In the 1980s, he created the Reilly Classic, an all-star game that allows Brooklyn public high school seniors to compete against each other, according to a web post.

A Gofundme page has been set up to support Reilly's family. It had already reached $17,000 as of Friday afternoon.