Teenager who rushed into burning Bronx building to save little girl dies
The corner of Crotona Avenue and Grote Street in the Belmont section is now named for Lucas Silverio Mendoza.
Mendoza was only 19 when he ran into a burning building to rescue his three-year-old neighbor, Yasleen McDonald. He had already rescued his grandmother from the burning building.
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Sadly, both Mendoza and McDonald later died.
"He was a wonderful human being," said his second cousin Jesse Alvarez, "A heart of gold. His heart was the size, it couldn't fit in his body.
Friday would have been Silverio's 21st birthday.
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