Little Mikayla Capers — who was with 6-year-old Prince Joshua “PJ” Avitto when he was murdered in a Brooklyn elevator — is so heartbroken about losing her best friend that she can’t bear to see PJ’s mom.
“She doesn’t want to see me right now — she said so because it’s hard,” said PJ’s mom, Aricka McClinton, on Thursday.
“She probably shut down because she was there with him and she made it out, so why didn’t her best friend made it out? That has to be what that baby is thinking.”
Mikayla, 7, was left critically injured when “Brooklyn Ripper” Daniel St. Hubert allegedly stabbed the two children inside the elevator of their public housing building in East New York on June 1. She was released from Presbyterian-Morgan Stanley Hospital on Wednesday.
Mikayla’s grandfather, Chicago chef Surroy Capers, flew out to see his first grandchild as soon as he heard she had been attacked by the maniac. He said she is in good spirits and “progressing day by day” with the help of her family.
“Right now, it is the healing process,” Surroy said. “We have got to make sure she is all right. It is a long process. In due time, we will sit her down and talk to her.”
Mikayla even mustered a smile for her grandfather when he arrived at her hospital room — and requested he make her chicken and broccoli, the same dish he served up just before moving to Chicago, the man said.
“She gave me a big hug,” Surroy said. “She was watching TV and coloring.”
The same day Mikayla left the hospital, St. Hubert was indicted in Brooklyn Criminal Court. The accused killer asked a judge if he could speak to the courtroom, but his request was denied.
“You want to talk? Nobody wants to listen to you,” PJ’s mother said. “My baby’s gone and Mikayla is doing much better.”
McClinton said it was a good thing she wasn’t allowed to face the man charged with brutally murdering her son.
“The whole court would have been in uproar because everybody would’ve followed me (to try to hurt him),” she said. “I know the judge would’ve been like ‘oh s***t, I’m getting out of here.’”