FLUSHING, Queens (WABC) -- The New York City medical examiner says a 16-year-old boy who died after collapsing during a high school basketball practice was born with a heart problem.
Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Barbara Sampson said on Wednesday that Lenny Pierre had a major vessel in an abnormal location, resulting in cardiac arrest.
The teen collapsed in December at John Bowne High School in Flushing, Queens.
Coaches told his mother they attempted CPR but despite their best efforts on the court along with the medics in the ambulance and doctors in the ER, there was nothing anyone could do.
His parents previously said he had no prior medical issues.
"I am heartbroken to hear of Lenny Pierre's passing," Mayor Bill de Blasio said in a statement shortly after his death. "As a parent, and as a father of student athletes, I can only imagine the pain and sorrow being felt by Lenny's family, loved ones and classmates. On behalf of 8.6 million New Yorkers, I extend our deepest condolences. We will be with this family now and in the future as we mourn the loss of one of our city's children."
(The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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