Vigil held for 3-year-old boy found dead in Lowell pond
LOWELL - Carefully curated on the side of Varnum Ave in Lowell, there is light - and words of love. Colorful balloons bounce in the breeze, and a pile of cute characters just beg to be hugged by a little boy.
Broken hearts huddled together here Thursday, unable to make sense of a world now missing Harry Kkonde.
"He was always attached to his mother," family friend Maureen Kalemba said. "And he was always looking out for love and hugs and kisses that we used to give him."
The three-year-old was found Wednesday, in a pond not far from the roadside memorial. Loved ones prayed together and wept by the water, still consumed by questions. How did the toddler slip away from his sitter's home to his tragic death?
"How one day are you alive and in the blink of a moment you're gone," Kalemba said. "The mother came in the morning and before even she could settle, her son was gone."
Police protected the grieving crowd from passing cars, many of them lingering after the vigil. Still staring at this sweet face, a beautiful boy in his Christmas pajamas.
"He felt love. At least one thing I know he knew, he was loved," Kalemba said.
It takes a village to raise a child, and a whole community grieves when one is lost. A second vigil is planned for Friday night at Lowell City Hall.