A Queens family and friends, all dressed in white, gathered outside a home to light candles and remember the 11-month-old boy allegedly killed by his mother earlier this month.
Kiam Felix, Jr., died after prosecutors say he was allegedly smothered by his mother over the July Fourth holiday weekend. Officials say the boy’s face was covered with a bedsheet and he struggled to breathe and move for about 30 minutes, eventually turning blue. The boy was taken to the hospital, where he died.
Prosecutors say Felix’s mother, 22-year-old Nicole Kelly, allegedly told investigators she had reached a “breaking point” and no longer wanted her son.
On Sunday, Felix’s father along with other family members gathered to grieve.
“We’re trying to put it all together, and we’re all trying to keep it together,” said the infant’s grandfather, Sonny Southerland, Sr. “(Felix’s father) is struggling, and we all are struggling.”
Felix’s aunt, Tanisha Gordon, said Kelly was a good mother.
“I know that she was a good mother,” she said. “This wasn’t something that was premeditated.”
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Kelly was charged with second-degree murder and has been hospitalized since her arrest. Attorney information for the woman wasn’t available.
