A 9-year-old boy fell to his death from a Bronx apartment building Wednesday afternoon, authorities and witnesses said.
Sidy Fofana plummeted from the building at 20 Richman Plaza in Morris Heights at approximately 5 p.m., landing on scaffolding outside the structure, sources said.
The boy’s uncle Boubacar Fofana said he had given his nephew $10 to pick up food at a local Chinese restaurant, but grew nervous when the boy didn’t return.
“After he came my wife gave him money and we think he didn’t go to the Chinese store,” Fofana said.
The uncle said surveillance video from inside the elevator shows the boy getting off on the top floor before walking through a door to the roof.
“The roof door was open; no lock, no alarm,” Fofana said. “We don’t know yet what’s going on.”
Sidy’s distraught father, Gaoussou Fofana, said his son was a fourth grader at Harlem Success Academy and a passionate soccer fan who had dreams of one day becoming a dentist.
“When he was four years old, he go to the hospital to see a dentist, after he said, ‘I want to be there one day when I finish school,’” the devastated dad said, choking back tears.
“He said, ‘daddy don’t worry, I’m going to be a doctor, I’m going to take care of you.’”
Shocked resident Marlene Melvin, 34, said, “I was walking into my building and I heard two men yelling, ‘There is a body!’ ”
She said she witnessed a gory scene.
“I looked up and saw that he landed on the scaffolding,” said Melvin, who was the first to call 911. “Blood was dripping down. I could see a severed arm.”
The boy was dead when emergency services arrived at the scene.
It was not immediately clear whether Fofana fell or jumped, authorities said.