Three-year-old Jalien Abreu’s heartbroken mom and grandmother came yesterday to the makeshift memorial neighbors set up outside the Coney Island apartment building where the girl was run down and killed by an SUV driven by her allegedly drunk father.
All activity stopped as Nadhia Bonilla brought her mother, Milagros Vasquez, to the shrine – containing votive candles, balloons, teddy bears, poignant farewells, and a pint-sized pair of white sneakers.
Sobbing quietly, Bonilla, 26, added a single yellow rose to the offerings as her mother watched.
Vasquez had been vacationing in her native Dominican Republic when her beloved granddaughter, known to family members as JuJu, died late Sunday night. She flew home immediately.
“I had to come back,” she said.
“My little girl is gone now.”
Early yesterday, father Robert Abreu, 23, attended a brief court hearing, which officials said paved the way for a grand jury to hear the facts of the case.
He’s been charged with vehicular manslaughter, DWI and driving without a license.