Adams condemns youth-on-youth gun violence at NYC teen’s funeral as family grieves
The grandmother of the Brooklyn teen killed by a gunman’s errant bullet this week collapsed in grief at his funeral Thursday – where Mayor Eric Adams condemned the rash of youth-on-youth violence that’s enveloped the city, saying authorities need to “remove the guns off our street.”
The funeral for Faridun Mavlonov – a 15-year-old high schooler who dreamt of someday being crowned UFC champ – drew hundreds of mourners to the Muslim Community Center on 3rd Avenue in Sunset Park to weep for the young man described by his grandma as “smart, beautiful and strong.”
“He was very peaceful, very calm,” his grandmother, Umaro Kamalova, said in Russian as City Councilman Ari Kagan translated. “God took his life very, very early.
“He wanted to become champion of America and show the flag of America to Uzbekistan,” Kamalova said, referencing the family’s native land, which they left 12 years ago.
“We were always very proud of him.”
Kamalova also beseeched the mayor and the police to prevent such tragedies from happening — especially to the children who call the Big Apple home.
“Such young people should not be killed,” she said, shortly before grief overwhelmed her. “My grandson should be the last person to die by a bullet in New York City.”
Adams, for his part, told the packed mosque that Mavlonov – one of five teens shot across the city during a bloody 12-hour span Monday – was a “young baby who was prematurely taken from us.”
To stop the killings, Adams said, authorities need to strip the streets of the firearms that have flooded them.
“There are too many guns on our streets, there is too much violence among our young people,” Adams said. “There is too much pain and despair.
“In the shadows of our city right now, there are young people who are harboring the anger and the violence,” he continued.
“And it is our obligation to take this painful moment and turn it into a purposeful moment – and to rededicate our lives to saving the children of our city,” Adams said. “Young people are killing young people at an alarming rate.”
The mayor added: “We stop this by moving from being worshippers only to becoming practitioners. Allah does not want us, God does not want us to just be faithful worshippers.”
Mavlonov, a James Madison High Student, was struck in the back during a clash on 62nd Street near 20th Avenue in Bensonhurst around 1 p.m. Monday, according to cops. Four other teens were shot and wounded hours later in separate bursts of gunplay in The Bronx and Manhattan.
The 17-year-old suspect in Mavlonov’s killing – who police know but have not yet caught – got into an argument with another boy at Franklin Delano Roosevelt High School and the two agreed to meet after for a fistfight, NYPD Chief of Department James Essig told reporters this week.
The shooter’s intended target was walking with six other kids – including Mavlonov – when the suspect pulled out a gun and squeezed off seven rounds, the chief said. A single bullet struck the MMA fighter known for his pacifist ways, leaving him mortally wounded on a Bensonhurst street corner.
“He was like a big brother for everyone — he looked out for them,” a 15-year-old friend and former sparring partner told The Post on Tuesday. “He wouldn’t use violence … he didn’t want to fight. What he did was settle it down.”
His father, Firdavs Mavlonov, told The Post at his eldest son’s funeral that he would “help with everything.”
“I have five kids and he was my boy,” Firdavs sobbed. “He’s helped me with everything. He took care of everything. He was 15. He didn’t see life.”
Adams, who helped carry the boy’s casket, told mourners that a father should never bury his son.
But he exhorted New Yorkers to turn their pain into purpose.
“Losing our children is an indictment on our entire city and our entire country,” Adams said.
“We must change that. We must stand up. We must save our children. We are losing too much – and too many.”
When asked what message she would like to tell her grandson’s killer, Umaro Kamalova was brief.
“God will judge him.”
