“Joyful Leader” Nyheem Wright, 17, Dead After Knife Attack

17-year-old Nyheem Wright, described as a “joyful leader,” died after he was attacked and stabbed by six alleged gang members. Wright was pronounced dead at Maimonides Medical Center on Saturday, January 21. He had suffered stab wounds that left him with a collapsed lung and a damaged artery. 

Tragedy 

According to members of his family and media reports, Wright was attacked by the six alleged gang members around 3 pm on Friday, January 20th. He tried to run away from his assailants but unfortunately, they caught up to him at a Rite Aid parking lot on Mermaid Avenue and West 30th Street. 

Wright was stabbed in broad daylight, in the presence of his twin brother Raheem. The injuries he suffered were severe and he was rushed to the hospital in critical condition. It is alleged that the fatal stabbing was in retaliation over an earlier fight over a girl. The attackers were planning to jump a girl who attended the same school. Wright intervened, attempting to stop the group from attacking her only to then be chased and fall victim to the attack.

A Good Person  

Nyheem Wright is described as having been a good person as well as popular in school by the people that knew him best. “He wasn’t in a gang,” Simon Brooks said of her late son. “He was a very good student. Everybody at his school loved him. They love him. He was getting ready to graduate. He was doing an internship, and he gets paid every two weeks.”  

Brooks called for justice for her son. “We want justice for my son Nyheem because he did not deserve this, and we are not OK,” she said. Wright was standing up to the group in hopes of protecting the girl from the attack, a kind thing to do, when he was beaten senseless by the gang. 

A Week of Teen Tragedy 

“This week our students repeatedly suffered from senseless acts of violence, and tonight we mourn an utterly tragic loss of life. I spoke with the young man’s principal this evening, who described him as a joyful leader. He was on the verge of graduation and was a hard worker who took an active role in leading other young people at his school. Our city suffers because of these losses. We will support the students and schools impacted by violence this week as they grieve and work with all schools to help young people turn away from violence,” Schools Chancellor David Banks said on Twitter Saturday night. 

New York City experienced a week of violence involving teenagers that included several shootings. LittleAfrica News reported on two shootings, with one of them ending fatally.