Gerald Cummings: Brooklyn dad shot dead trying to retrieve son’s stolen hat from teen bullies

A father who defended his son against a group of teens at a basketball court in Brooklyn was shot dead Wednesday, police said.

Gerald Sealey, 17, was playing basketball Saturday outside Public School 6, an elementary school in Flatbush, when a 16-year-old snatched an Oakland Raiders cap right off his head, police sources told the New York Daily News.

The cap with a snakeskin bill is worth hundreds of dollars.

On Wednesday, Gerald spotted the thief wearing the hat at the same basketball courts about 10:15 p.m. with some of his friends, police sources said.

He called his dad, 38-year-old Gerald Cummings, who came to the basketball court and snatched the hat off the teen’s head, sources said. The boy followed Mr. Cummings and his son off the court, and one of his friends pulled a gun from his backpack and opened fire, sources told the Daily News.

Mr. Cummings, who also has an 11-year-old son, was fatally shot in the head, police said. He was rushed to Kings County Hospital but could not be saved, the Daily News reported.

“He did what any father would do and that’s stand up for his children,” said Earl Saunders, Mr. Cummings’ longtime friend. “All he did was confront the kids that beat up his son — and lost his life in the process of defending his child.”

“He was a caring, hardworking man,” said Mr. Cummings’ nephew, Jahquel Davis. “I don’t know what to say.”

Investigators have identified the thief and have a street name for the gunman but have not been able to find either suspect, the Daily News reported.