Sixteen-year-old Lenny Pierre was practicing with the John Bowne High School basketball team in Queens, N.Y., on Wednesday, when he began feeling lightheaded and collapsed. School staff called 911 and he was rushed to a local hospital.
“I’m in shock. I was at work and got a call saying that he was lightheaded and he collapsed. My son don’t have no health problems,” his mom, Edna Georges told the New York Daily News. “I don’t know what went wrong.”
Georges said she got a text from her son early that morning saying he was headed to practice and that she became concerned when she texted him and he didn’t respond. She would eventually receive a call from her son’s coach telling her that Lenny was in the hospital.
The teen’s mom called Lenny’s uncle, Daniel Georges, who rushed to the hospital.
“When I had got there, they had already finished CPR and he was dead,” he told the Daily News. “He was perfectly healthy, played basketball all the time, nothing out of the ordinary at all.”
Lenny’s family told the newspaper that he was a good kid who never got into trouble and loved sports.
“My son’s gone too soon. I truly will miss my son forever. That’s a big hole in my heart,” his mom said. “That’s my first born. Even if I have another son it’ll never be Lenny, my sweetheart, my sweet son. I don’t know how. Healthy, young, talented.”
The school’s chancellor, Richard Carranza, told the Daily News that Lenny’s death is a tragic loss.
“This was a tragic loss, and my heart is with this student’s family, team and school community,” Carranza said. “We will provide additional guidance counselors and support to this school community for as long as it is needed, and we are working with NYPD and agency partners as they conduct a thorough investigation.”
The cause of Lenny’s death was not immediately known.
“Out of the kids in this neighborhood he’s one of the few kids that goes to school, goes to his sports, and minds his business,” a neighbor of Lenny’s told the newspaper. “It’s a very respectable family. A lot of kids his age you’ll see on the corner, but never him.”