In New York, Timi worshiped twice a week at a church in Brownsville where his father was a pastor. Less than a week before Timi died, youth group leaders asked everyone to describe themselves with an adjective starting with their initial. Standing 5-foot-5, Timi dryly declared himself “Tall Timi.”
Sometimes, he sneaked out to play basketball, but he was so quick that those trying to catch him would only later find him back in the sanctuary, a Bible in his lap.
Growing up in Brownsville, Mr. Nathaniel was still a baby when his father started passing in and out of jail, ultimately serving time for armed robbery. By around 2007, Aaron Nathaniel Sr. told the family to stop making the 16-hour round trip bus ride to visit him in prison, and Mr. Nathaniel was 9 before he saw his namesake again.
A quiet kid, Mr. Nathaniel was happiest on the basketball court, his father said. He spent hours playing pickup games.
But a learning disability made school difficult and Mr. Nathaniel started getting into fights, so his father said he brought him to Connecticut, where he had eventually moved after his release. But by summer 2018, around the time of his friend’s stabbing, Mr. Nathaniel had shut down, and his father sent him back home to Brooklyn.
Mr. Nathaniel dropped out of school. Within months, he was arrested for Timi’s murder.
The case against Mr. Nathaniel was in the public eye from the beginning. Block-by-block video footage depicted him running from the playground, carrying a gun. For nearly two weeks, the police could not find him, so officers at Brooklyn’s 73rd precinct shared pictures and his name on Twitter.
Cases involving minors are typically secret, but murders in New York are handled differently. After Mr. Nathaniel’s arrest and confession, he was treated sometimes as a child, sometimes as an adult.

Source: New York Times

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