Hundreds of friends and family members gathered at Cobble Hill Chapels yesterday to mourn the death of 17-year-old Sharif Abdallah, as police continued to investigate whether they will bring homicide charges against three teenagers and one father arrested in conjunction with the fight that led to the boy's death. As of right now, 42-year-old Angelo Bracco, along with his sons Eric and Christian and their friend Dominic Barbera, have been charged with gang assault.
A friend of both the victim and the teens accused told reporters, "It's family against family now. I guarantee there's going to be reprisals on this and it'll be stupid because it was stupid that the kid died." Angelo Bracco's brother told the Post, "Angelo went because his kids were getting beat up. Who wouldn't do that? His kids aren't street thugs, they're good kids."
It is still not clear exactly how Abdallah died after collapsing while fleeing the scene of the scuffle in Prospect Park on Saturday night. An autopsy was inconclusive. Abdallah's father told the Times that Sharif had mitral valve prolapse, which affects a valve between the left atrium and the left ventricle. But Abdallah played baseball and basketball and the condition should not have affected him merely from running.
The Daily News spoke with 16-year-old Kerry-Lynn Conroy, the girl that Abdallah was defending when she was called "Ugly Betty." She told the paper, "[They] were just making comments, calling me ugly. They were just being jerks .... I didn't even care...He was the kind of friend you would go to when things like this happened...I wish it was me."
