By Joe Anuta
A Queens woman was arrested Monday and charged with murder in connection with the death of her 2-year-old son, police said.
Afriyie Gaspard, 29, was charged with murder and manslaughter after the city Office of the Chief Medical Examiner determined that the death of her 2-year-old son was a homicide.
She allegedly strangled the infant to death after he would not stop crying, sources told the New York Post.
On Friday at about 5 p.m., officers responded to reports of an unconscious baby in a Pomonok apartment building near Jewel Avenue and Kissena Boulevard.
Emergency personnel took Izayah Hall to New York Hospital Queens, where he was pronounced dead, police said.
A day later, Gaspard was arrested, police said.
According to her sister, who was in New York for an impending family reunion, Gaspard has five other children.
The city Administration of Children’s Services took those children into their care, a spokeswoman said.
Gaspard’s sister, Stephanie, said her sibling would never intentionally hurt her child.
“She would not kill him,” she said, speaking at the door of her sister’s Pomonok apartment. “I know my sister would not do that.”
Gaspard’s children had previously been in foster care, according to her sister, but all six had recently been returned.
She described Hall as a happy child whom she would hear laughing over the phone.
Reach reporter Joe Anuta by e-mail at januta@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-260-4566.
