Photo: ABC 7
Hundreds of people gathered on Saturday to support parents after their 2-year-old son died and his 1-year-old brother was injured from the boys’ 55-foot fall from a south Minneapolis rooftop.
Police officers told ABC Newsthat Abdiqani Abdi and his little brother Abdirizak were playing on their family’s porch before the accident on Thursday. The pair fell onto a rooftop landing next to the porch and then from the building, the outlet reports.
“Very lovely kids, very happy, friendly. [They] always play with the father, mother, other kiddies,” Grad Darhir, a family friend,told CBS affiliate WCCO.
Abdiqani was buried Saturday while his little brother was recovering at the hospital, WCCO reported on Friday.
According to the news outlet, Abdirizak suffered three broken ribs, a fractured skull and a broken arm and jaw. Police are still investigating what led to the tragedy, but previously said they believe it was an accident.
Minneapolis police did not immediately return PEOPLE’s request for comment.
Kaley Brown of the Whittier Alliance told everyone who gathered on Saturday that “the fact that you are all here on such short notice is a testament to the spirit of not only Whittier but the Twin Cities as a whole,” according to WCCO.
“We haven’t had anything like this before, this tragedy, but when something happens we come together as a community,” Osman Ahmed, a spokesperson for the family, told WCCO.
Ahmed, whocreated a GoFundMe pagefor the family to help with funeral and medical costs, described Abdiqani and Abdirizak as “very innocent souls.” The page has since raised more than $8,000.
“I can feel the pain,” Ahmed said of the parents’ heartbreak at a prayer service. “I don’t need the father or the mother or anyone to explain to me how that feels.”
source: people.com
