By Courtney Dentch
A 13-year-old boy formerly from Springfield Gardens was killed in Brooklyn last week over a dollar, police said.
Patrick Bhola, who lived with his family at 224-18 147th Ave. until about 1999, was slain and stuffed into a closet in an abandoned Brooklyn building July 8 allegedly by a young couple after a dispute over a $1 coin, police said last week.
Patrick’s family mourned his death at a funeral service Sunday at St. Peter’s Lutheran Church in Springfield Gardens, just down the block from the family’s old home, one of their former neighbors said.
“He seemed like an ordinary boy,” said the neighbor, who lives across the street from the family’s former house at 147-11 224th St. “He was always nice to me.”
But on July 8, Patrick was murdered after he loaned the young couple a dollar and then took it back, police said.
Delon Lucas, 18, and Clarine Jones, 21, both from Brooklyn, admitted to the police that they lured Patrick to a neighborhood flophouse in Brooklyn, where they took turns beating and stabbing the boy, police said.
The pair was arrested the morning of July 10 after neighbors told police they were bragging about the killing. They were arraigned Friday on second-degree murder and kidnap charges, and were held without bail. No pleas were entered as of Friday.
The incident began July 8, when Lucas asked to borrow a dollar from Patrick to buy a loose cigarette, juice and a snack cake at a Brooklyn bodega, police said. When Lucas stepped away from the store counter, Patrick snatched the coin back and ran from the store, police said.
Lucas and Jones caught up with the boy later that day and invited him to smoke marijuana at a vacant building where the pair sometimes stayed, police said. Once there, they confronted Patrick about the dollar and tied him up, beat him with a baseball bat and stabbed him, police said.
Patrick and his family moved from Springfield Gardens to Brooklyn after his parents separated a few years ago. Patrick began having problems in the neighborhood, swiping snacks from bodegas and skipping school, The New York Times reported. His problems only worsened as the landlord for his mother’s apartment moved to evict the family, charging that they owed more than $6,000 in back rent, the Times reported.
The couple, who police alleged took pride in killing Patrick, have had previous brushes with the law, authorities said. Jones also was arraigned Friday on a separate attempted murder charge related to an armed robbery last February. Lucas has a sealed juvenile record.
Reach reporter Courtney Dentch by e-mail at TimesLedger@aol.com, or by phone at 229-0300, Ext. 138.
