Parents explain death of 8-year-old Madyson Middleton to their own kids

The Tannery Arts Complex where 8-year-old Madyson Middleton lived is a tight knit community. Residents at the complex are trying to deal with the shocking details of her death.

On Tuesday, NewsChannel 5 spoke with a father who said he took work off today to make sure he’s there for his kids as they grieve the loss of a good friend here at the Tannery.

“Sad day today…from Sunday, it was a sad day,” Tannery Arts Center resident Mbor Faye said.

Faye and his family like many others stopped by Middleton’s memorial to pay their respects. He has three children and Middleton was friends with his 10-year-old daughter. Faye said they’d have play dates at their apartment. He also said it’s his kid’s first experience with death and his daughter wants to know why she can’t play with Middleton anymore.

“I’m just trying to tell her. I don’t know how to talk to her right now. But she’s asking me questions, (like) “I see flowers downstairs. What’s going on?” Faye said.

There are two buildings at the Tannery — about 50 apartments in each, with about 60 kids throughout the complex.

People continued to pay their respects bringing flowers to Middleton’s memorial. But Francesca Lorenzini decided to do something a little different.

“Just passing out and hanging up fliers for Madyson. We all miss you and then at the top it says “even if we didn’t know her, we still care” because I didn’t know her too well. But it still feels like I did,” Lorenzini said,

Lorenzini said when she saw Middleton’s pictures she realized they both went to the Boys and Girls Club together.

“Then this morning I woke up and she had already made copies on our copy machine. So I thought it would be a good healing way,” Ann Marie Lorenzini, Francesca’s mom said.

“Kinda felt bad for everyone who knew her, her parents, just really sad and I wanted everyone to know that everyone cared, not just her family and friends,” Lorenzini said.

Back at the Tannery no one was on the playground Tuesday. But some residents said what happened won’t keep them from allowing their kids to play freely.

“We are going to be watching our kids definitely but we’re not going to change what we were doing as parents. Because they don’t need to be scared of tannery because there is a lot of good people living here,” Faye said.

Staff at the Tannery Arts Center office said they’ll have grief counselors for residents this week to help the children understand what happened over the last several days.