What to Know
- The NYPD says they've arrested a 14-year-old boy in the killing 16-year-old Timothy 'Timi' Oybeola
- Oyebola, of Queens, was shot in the head while playing basketball on a court in Brownsville after school on Sept. 21
- Oyebola's funeral is scheduled for Saturday
Police say they've arrested the boy suspected of firing the bullet that killed a beloved honors-student teen playing basketball after school at a Brooklyn park last month.
The 14-year-old Brooklyn boy is charged with murder, criminal use of a firearm and criminal possession of a weapon in connection with the shooting death of Timothy "Timi" Oyebola, 16, on Sept. 21, the NYPD says. It's unclear whether he has an attorney who could comment on the charges.
Outside court where he made his first appearance Thursday, Oyebola's parents said they wanted to know how someone so young could kill another person.
"Can you imagine?" said Oyebola's father, David Olawane Oyebola. "Fourteen years of age. Fourteen years of age. Who raised him? What is the background?"
"I need to know the parents of this boy," said mother Adetutu Oyebola. "I need to know the parents."
Oyebola, who's from Queens, was an honors student at Ascend Charter School in Brownsville, and has over and over been called a bright, "good" kid who loved basketball and stayed out of trouble. The 11th-grader already had scholarships on offer.
As they prepared to face their son's alleged killer, Oyebola's parents said they don't hate the boy who killed their boy.
"When I see him, I'm going to say give your life to Christ," said David Oyebola. "I've already forgiven him in my heart."
Local
The father says he and his wife want to focus their energy on preventing future gun violence among youth.
"I don't want to see another 14-year-old doing what he did," he said. "And I don't want another 14-year-old be incarcerated because I know they have been manipulated."
Earlier this week, Oyebola's parents led hundreds of anti-violence marchers at Chester Playground in Brownsville, where their son died.
His father previously told News 4 that Oyebola was "highly intelligent, God-fearing… very focused. He loved basketball... They cut his life short. They cut his life short."
Oyebola's father said he’d asked him to stop playing basketball: "'What are you getting from it?'" he recalled asking his son.
But the honor-roll student said he didn’t want to give up the sport.
"'No, no, I love basketball, dad, I will not disappoint you. I am good in my academics,'" his father recalled Oyebola saying.
In one particularly heart-wrenching moment at Monday's rally, Oyebola's mother wiped away tears as someone read aloud the birthday message he penned to her just a week before he died.
"'There's no bond like that between a mother and child,'" read the message. "'You know me in ways no one else ever will. You're my mother, my confidante, my hero.'"
Oyebola's funeral is scheduled for Saturday.
