"You don't ever think... this would happen to your son," the victim's father, Nathan Allsbrooks, Sr., said.
It is every parent's worst nightmare, tragedy claiming a child. But now, Nathan Allsbrooks must live with that vicious reality.
His beautiful son was only 15. Young Nathan had a million-dollar smile and a heart full of hope. He dreamed of making it all the way to the NBA when one stray bullet left him crumpled and bloodied and dead on a Harlem street.
Police officers responding to a 911 call early Sunday discovered the 15-year-old on a street corner with a gunshot wound to his torso.
Police say the young teen and his friend were walking home around 2:30 a.m. when the shot was fired that fatally hit Nathan Allsbrooks, Jr. in the stomach.
Police say he was pronounced dead about 15 minutes later.
His family came rushing to the scene, just blocks from his home.
Detectives do not believe Allsbooks was the intended targeted.
Police believe he was hit by a stray bullet and was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time.
So far, no one has been arrested.
Nathan attended a Catholic school. He worked with his grandfather during the summer and went to church with his grandmother on Sundays.
Family members say he didn't get into trouble on the streets. But early Sunday, trouble found him and stole him from his family, who were left shackled to grief.
"It's just crazy, kids killing kids. I don't get it," Nathan's father said. "I don't get it."
The boy is the third teenager in the city to be killed since Wednesday.
A 15-year-old girl was stabbed to death in Queens Wednesday evening following a dispute at a bus stop.
And a 17-year-old boy was fatally shot in Brooklyn early Saturday.
Police have made no arrests in either killing.
