A veteran NYPD detective spoke of his devastation Monday night after his teenage son was shot dead just a few feet away from children playing at a Brooklyn housing project.
Sean Hayes, 19, was struck at least twice in the chest yesterday afternoon steps from a playground at the Marcy Houses in Bedford-Stuyvesant, cops said.
The teen was the son of Detective Sean Lawrence, a 20-year NYPD veteran assigned to the Brooklyn warrant squad.
"We're trying to hold it together," Lawrence, clearly distraught, told the Daily News outside the family home in Rosedale, Queens. "We've got a lot of family here. Everybody will take a piece of my sorrow with them to make it less for me."
He said Sean left behind three sisters, ages 26, 25 and 9.
The gunfire that killed Hayes broke out near the Flushing Ave. playground, forcing kids enjoying the day off from school for Martin Luther King Day to dive for cover. "When I heard the shots I ran," said one 10-year-old boy. "That's what you're supposed to do."
Hayes' neighbor, Jamilla Daise, 32, said heartbreak was compounded by the slaying happening on MLK Day.
"This is supposed to be a day where our people come together," said Daise, adding that Hayes was the "pride and joy" of his mother, Michelle Hayes.
Sean Hayes was taken to nearby Woodhull Hospital, where he was pronounced dead about 3p.m.
A relative described Sean Hayes as a "good kid" who wanted to be a teacher and was studying to get his GED.
The teen lived with his mother about a block from where he was gunned down. "We don't know what happened yet," said the relative, who is also a city detective.
He said Lawrence was grief-stricken.
"It's going to be tough for him - he's got to bury his child," he said. "Nothing sadder than that."
Friends said Sean Hayes was talking with a pal in front of a building at the project where rapper Jay-Z was raised when the gunman opened fire at 2:25p.m.
Sources said the killer might have been armed with a shotgun, explaining that nine bullet wounds were found on Hayes' body.
At least one man was taken into custody. He was released last night, and police had no further suspects. Police said detectives were not sure what sparked the shooting.
"He was a lovable kid. He loves kids," said Hayes' aunt Val Ward, 28.
She said Hayes was an aspiring rapper who also enjoyed playing basketball and video games.
"He loved his mother. He was definitely a mama's boy," Ward said. "He had a dream that every child has - to get his mother out of [the projects]."
Just a few minutes before the slaying, Hayes was hanging out with friend Quana Jackson, 23, of Queens, who was visiting her grandmother at the Marcy Houses.
Jackson said Hayes would have been a great schoolteacher, adding that he was so kind she called him "Uncle Seany" in front of her kids, ages 4 years and 5 months.
"I don't know how to tell [my older child] Uncle Seany's gone," Jackson said.
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