A teenage basketball player who dreamed of winning a college scholarship was killed and his cousin seriously wounded when two men opened fire on them outside a Queens deli, police and family said yesterday.
Eric Weaver, 17, who played tournament basketball at Lincoln Terrace Park in Ozone Park every summer, died at Mary Immaculate Hospital after the Friday night attack.
“I don’t want to live anymore,” said the boy’s heartbroken father, Jeff Brown, 40. “He was my whole life, my best friend. It’s hard to comprehend.”
Weaver’s cousin, 19-year-old Malek Speller of Hollis, was shot in the buttocks and thigh – but managed to elude death when he crawled into some nearby bushes and called his mom on a cell phone for help.
Police said the shooting erupted when the two teenagers were approached by two unidentified men who opened fire on them at 113th Road and Farmers Boulevard in front of Mejia Deli at around midnight Friday. Police offered no motive for the attack.
Weaver’s grandmother, Martha Brown, said cops told her that Speller “hid in the bushes and told Weaver to run” after being shot.
“Malek called his mom on the cell phone and they drove him to Mary Immaculate and left Eric in the street,” said Brown, who was angry that her grandson was left behind.
Weaver’s mom, Lisa, 38, was also inconsolable.
“They just left him,” she said. “Maybe he could have made it. It’s just not right. That’s my only baby.”
Police sources said both victims had arrest records, but no details were available.
A third cousin, Anthony, who asked not to be further identified, ran to the scene of the shooting and found the dying Weaver lying in a pool of blood.
“I said, ‘Talk to me, just talk to me.’ He said, ‘Move my legs for me, I can’t feel my legs.’
“He wasn’t screaming or crying. His eyes were open, and he was still conscious when the ambulance took him,” said Anthony.
The dead teen’s father said he last saw his son Christmas night as the teen headed out to visit his great-grandmother.
“He sleeps and eats to play basketball,” Jeff said. “I don’t know of any enemies he could have had. He wasn’t in any gangs, none of that.”