A mentally ill man from Brooklyn, New York, has been arrested and charged with second-degree murder after allegedly throwing his 4-year-old brother off of the roof of their seven-story apartment building on Saturday, September 29.
According to the New York Daily News , 20-year-old Shawn Smith asked New York Police Department officers for help around 3:30 a.m. since he thought his little sibling, Shimron Smith, was hurt.
He then made a shocking confession to the cops.
“I just killed my brother — I took my brother up to the roof and I threw him off,” he allegedly said, reported the New York Post .
Smith then directed officers to his building’s concrete courtyard, and that is where they found the boy’s broken and lifeless body. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
The medical examiner’s office ruled Shimron’s death a homicide, saying that the innocent little boy died from “multiple blunt force injuries.”
“I’ve finally become a criminal,” Smith bragged to reporters while being escorted, in handcuffs, out of Brooklyn’s 70th Precinct.
When asked if he was trying to kill his own brother, the smiling man answered, “Not really.”
Smith reportedly has no criminal record or history of violence. However, various sources said that he suffers from schizophrenia and other mental health issues.
Neighbors said that he often aimlessly walked around, up and down the steps inside of his apartment building and back and forth outside in front of it.
NOW: Family tragedy in Brooklyn. 4-year old thrown off a roof to his death. 20-year old brother with history of schizophrenia in custody. pic.twitter.com/78d2n5F46T
— Marcus Solis (@MarcusSolis7) September 29, 2018
The Post ‘s sources said that he recently told family members that voices in his head were encouraging him to do “something bad,” and that he has been suicidal in the past. In April, 911 was called when he climbed up to the roof and onlookers feared he was going to jump to his death.
Additionally, family members told cops that he had been admitted to Kings County Hospital in July for psychiatric treatment, and that he recently stopped taking the medication prescribed to him.
The boys’ mother, Odessa Frith, had moved her family from Guyana into the Brooklyn apartment building last December, said the Post . She has six children — Shawn is the oldest and Shimron was the youngest.
20-year-old Shawn Smith charged with murder after he allegedly tossed his 4-year-old brother from a Brooklyn building. Cops say he admitted throwing him off roof. Relatives say he suffers from schizophrenia. When asked if he meant to hurt his brother he responded “not really.” pic.twitter.com/HQImk63xa1
— CeFaan Kim (@CeFaanKim) September 29, 2018
Members of the community have started a memorial for Shimron outside of the apartment building where the Smith family lived.
“I have a little one myself. I can’t fathom somebody taking my child and throwing him off the roof like that,” Donna Hayward told CBS 2 News . “It tears me apart. It hurts me to the core to even hear it.”
Police told the media that the investigation is still ongoing.
