“I called the precinct this morning and I went down there and they showed me pictures. I know for sure it’s him,” said Ushell Chandler, whose 16-year-old son Elyjha Chandler was swept away at Jacob Riis Park in the Rockaways on June 21.
Elyjha’s body was recovered at around 9 p.m. Saturday near Beach 114th Street, just up the beach from where he disappeared over a week ago alongside his lifelong friend Christian Perkins, 17.
The morning after Elyjha’s body was recovered, a body believed to be Christian’s was found near the beach at Beach 149th Street.
The teens had been standing in knee-high water with friends on the evening of June 21 when a massive wave slammed into them and dragged them out to sea.
“One of the boys told me when the water hit them, it was like a demon coming at them,” Elyjah’s dad previously told The Post, adding that his son couldn’t swim.
A bystander, who saw the boys get struck by the wave and struggle in the water, leaped into the surf but was unable to pull them to safety.
Despite being scared of the ocean, Elyjah — who would have been 17 on June 28 — had skipped basketball practice to join his friends at the beach before the tragedy struck.
The Coast Guard called off the search days later after sweeping about 600 square miles of open ocean.
Chandler and Noah had visited the beach almost daily since the boys vanished to stand in vigil in the hopes that their bodies would be found.
Now that they’ve been recovered, Chandler said he feels “a bit better” knowing Elyjah’s home.
“To me, it’s a small step forward. I’m not going to recover from this,” Chandler said.
“That was important — me getting him back.”
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