Community honors, mourns Baby Fay at candlelight vigil

CAIRO―Most, if not all, of those who gathered at Horizon Church on Saturday evening had never met Fay Mohamed.

The candlelight vigil drew more than forty people, including members of law enforcement, who came out to honor and mourn the short life of the three-year-old who died this past week after police say she was brutally beaten by her mother’s boyfriend.

“Baby Fay walked our streets, but Baby Fay tonight is resting in the arms of a loving God,” said Pastor Jason Thompson, who led a prayer service before the group lit candles and made their way out onto Main Street.

Soft music played inside the church where flowers adorned the altar and photographs of Mohamed were displayed. Traver & McCurry Funeral Home in Catskill donated Mass cards in Mohamed’s favorite color: pink.

“We come here tonight with many questions… thoughts, concerns,” said Thompson.

But he urged the community to respond with hope rather than despair, and as the candles symbolized―to see light, not darkness.

“The hope for Greene County and the hope for Cairo is that when we hold these candles something happens in our mind tonight that this eternal joy, this eternal hope that Baby Fay is experiencing right now, would move from our head to our heart,” Thompson said.

The vigil was organized by local resident Emmy LaRosa who herself had never met Mohamed but lived nearby to where the attack took place and said she was heartbroken by the tragedy.

Among those in attendance were members of the Cairo Police Department and Greene County Sheriff’s Office, including Sheriff Peter Kusminsky, as well as Cairo Town Supervisor Debra Bogins.

“I felt that even though she was here for a very short time that we should, as a community, come together and give this little girl, this precious baby, a proper send off,” said LaRosa.

“I am very grateful to the pastor and his family and Horizon Church. They did an amazing and beautiful job. It was truly touching,” she added.

It was around 4:14 p.m. on Wednesday, January 28, that Greene County 911 dispatched police and EMS to an apartment at 579 Main Street in Cairo for a report of a three-year-old girl found unconscious and bleeding from the mouth.

The child’s mother reportedly found her severely injured after returning from a job interview. Her mother, who has not been publicly identified, was not at Saturday’s vigil, nor was anyone from the child’s family.

Mohamed was flown to Albany Medical Center where she underwent several surgeries but remained in critical condition for nearly a month. This past Tuesday, doctors took her off life support and she passed away early Wednesday morning.

Lameik Shakur Wilson, 24, of Cairo, was arrested by the Greene County Sheriff's Office on January 29 and charged with second-degree assault, a felony, and endangering the welfare of a child, a misdemeanor.

“The sheriff’s office, in conjunction with the Greene County District Attorney’s Office, is in the process of upgrading the charges against Wilson to include murder in the second degree, as well as other related charges,” the sheriff’s office reported.

A grand jury is expected to hear the case in the coming weeks.

“Unfortunately, we are unable to share any further details until the grand jury has acted on this matter,” said Greene County District Attorney Joseph Stanzione.

Wilson, who was in a relationship with Mohamed’s mother at the time of the assault, remains remanded to the Greene County Jail without bail.

“This is a heartbreaking case in which an innocent and beautiful three-year-old child endured serious physical injuries allegedly as a result of a beating by suspect Lameik Wilson,” said Stanzione, who has called the crime a “horrific offense” and said that the child “was beaten and abused beyond comprehension.”

Wilson is not originally from the area, Stanzione noted. Public records show he previously lived in the Rochester area where Mohamed and her mother are also reportedly from.

The investigation into what is now Mohamed’s death remains ongoing and anyone with possible information is urged to contact the sheriff’s office at 518-943-3300.