Shattered relatives mourn 11-year-old Brooklyn boy killed while subway surfing as grandma blames school
Distraught relatives and friends gathered Friday for the funeral of a sweet 11-year-old boy who was killed subway surfing — as his grandmother blamed his school for the tragic death.
Cayden Thompson slipped out of Fort Greene Preparatory Academy Monday morning before his deadly ride atop a G train, his paternal grandmother Angela Thompson exclusively told The Post outside the funeral.
“How could he just walk out of the school?,” she said. “I don’t understand that. How is a baby sneaking out of the school? You just let him go.”
A sense of palpable grief blanketed the street outside Cayden Thompson’s funeral at a Lower East Side mortuary.
One woman wailed and almost collapsed as the youngster’s white coffin was carried into a hearse. An aunt, who wished to remained unnamed, described Thompson as fearless, charismatic and “very sweet.”
Cayden rode atop a G train rolling into the Fourth Avenue-Ninth Street station about 10:15 a.m. when his head struck a low beam, officials said.
Angela Thompson remembered her grandson as a sweet child with a witty sense of humor who never failed to say “thank you.”
She said Cayden loved skateboarding, biking, scooters and recently got really into football.
The grieving grandmother called it “absolutely insane” Cayden, a sixth-grader, was able to walk from the school Monday morning.
“You’ve seen him at breakfast, but then he doesn’t go to a first period class” she said. “How’s that?
“And then how’s that that you don’t contact anybody? He must have left school around 9:30, 10, and nobody found out about anything that happened to him until after 1. What is that?”
City Department of Education officials said the incident is under investigation.
“My heart is broken for the family, friends and loved ones of this young child, taken from us far too soon,” said Chancellor David Banks in a statement.
“Subway surfing is a dangerous epidemic in our city, and the risk is never worth it. I implore all our community members to check in on the young people in their lives and remind them to always ride inside. We are providing additional supports to this school in the coming days and weeks.”
Parents at the school Friday demanded answers, however.
“He get out from the school and he finds himself on the subway? It concerns me,” said v, who was picking up her eighth grade son at Fort Greene prep. “I’m really surprised because we are very happy here. We really like this school. I don’t know how a boy can get out at ten o’clock. It’s like a bunker.”
