Community Chat

[MorningLover]

.. Picked Up A Group of Young Teens. He Ended Up Dead and Robbed.

NBC NY: Kofi Addo came to the U.S. from Ghana in 2006 determined to work hard — and he did, six days a week, driving a school bus by day, a taxi by night.

On the night he died, three teenagers reportedly called All Brunswick Taxi and said they needed a ride to the movie theaters. But evidently their motives were much more sinister.

"He was a beautiful soul to be taken away from us so soon. He had so much more on this Earth to do," said his widow, Kecia Banks.

Addo had done so much already, having brought his two sons here from Ghana to give them a better life. He also worked to send money back to his village to help others do the same.

"Him being abroad, people reached out for help. He was helping people go to school, getting anybody who had problems back home. My dad was helping," said his son, Hubert Addo.

He was behind the wheel of his taxi the night of May 11 when he got the call to come to a quiet block of Franklin Township — unaware that three teenagers, just 13 and 14 years old, allegedly lay in wait.

Neighbors captured images of them on doorbell cameras as they had loitered for over an hour. When Kofi pulled up, they allegedly got into his taxi, shot him point blank, took his phone and wallet and ran.

"All the years I know him, no complaints. Nice man, easy going, trying to make a living," said Basam Abourjeily, who also worked at the taxi company. "He was a nice man, always laughing and joking. It's a shame what happened to him."

What happened that night sent spasms of fear through the typically peaceful neighborhood, which turned into an unimaginable crime scene. The fear still lingers.

“For somebody to lose his life senselessly like that, it changed all of us. Now we close our doors, we never closed our doors," said neighbor Mem Jamiru, who was born in Ghana, like Addo. "We have a whole village back home that we take care of, people depending on us. When you destroy one person, you destroy a village. Its is pathetic."

That village is now coming together to help send Addo back home to be buried. His son has set up a fundraising page for the father who funded his trip here and sent him to college. He is set to graduate from Kean University in 2024 with a degree in criminal justice.

"One day I was driving him to work and he told me 'I never tell you stuff like this, but I’m proud of you.' That stood out to me a lot, that before he left I heard 'I'm proud of you' before unfortunately he left," said Hubert Addo.

The three teenagers who are charged with killing him are in juvenile detention. His widow, an educator, said that despite her family’s pain, she prays for them.

[RetRN]

Heartbreaking. Probably teens without a father in the home, I am so sick of this. We need parents to do their job. Don't have kids if you are not going to provide and care for them. It seems the family unit has gone by the wayside.

[MaverDaver]

So sad but unfortunately becoming more common.  Why not -- with today's progressive prosecutors creating a revolving door for criminals and juveniles knowing they won't be punished because of their age.  I say age is no excuse. Try them as adults and make an example of them. Can't always blame the parents or a lack thereof. Even kids from good homes become dirt bags.

These United States are slowly becoming a third world country although had this happened in a third world country those kids would have already faced the music!

[Isobel Archer]

Waiting for the - oh they are just kids and their brains aren't developed sufficiently for them to realize what they are doing defense.

Or - it's not that crime isn't prosecuted - we've always had 13 year olds killing people - we just didn't hear about it.

Or my favorite - it wasn't the kids, it was the gun.  Because everyone knows that if we just banned guns, criminals would turn them all in and there would be no more shootings.

[teganslaw]

Try them as adults and throw the book at them. I'm tired of people making excuses about their age and background, etc. The brains are developed enough to know better at that age. I won't pay attention to anyone who tries to excuse this behavior. 

[proudlyfromNJ]

This happened over a week ago and the brats have been charged with a myriad of charges. They are still being held and awaiting a court appearance. 

[kaydee50]

One of the ideas our newly elected mayor ran on was that the "kids" were "disadvantaged" and needed remedial help not prison.  I could not disagree more and did not vote for him.

That is tragic what happened to that cab driver.   The "kids" should be tried as adults, their names made public, and sent to jail for a long time.  Wishful thinking.

[twinsister]

Such a tragic, senseless story.  These kids should be tried as adults and serve time in a regular prison, not juvenile hall.   This new "revolving door"  bail system, is enabling criminals, no matter the age, to be more brazen and think they will not be punished.  What has happened in NYC recently is proof of that.  The criminals become victims and the real victims are punished.

[occasionalrain]

Parents have rights and they have used them to have books banned, to remove their child from sex education class, to permit or deny their child to go along on class field trips... With rights come responsibility, so when their child commits a crime, the parents should be charged along with the child.

[OKPrincess]

😢😢