PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Dozens of loved ones gathered at 17th and Wingohocking streets Wednesday night with black balloons in hand, the same place where 20-year-old Tamir Simpson was shot on Oct. 3, 2021. He died days later from his injuries.
His mother, Earlena, said he was an unintended target in a drive-by shooting. Six months since his life was taken, there are still no leads as to who pulled the trigger.
“Tamir was funny, a big kid at heart. He was 20 but he was still a kid,” she said of her son. “He was a family kid. He didn’t deserve what happened to him, and we still looking for justice.”
Tiffany Simpson, his aunt, said the family feels robbed.
“He wasn’t a street kid,” she said. “The streets stole his life. He worked and made money the honest way. He’s one kid that is truly missed.”
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“For the streets to steal your life and you not even into the streets, that’s a bad feeling,” added Earlena Simpson. “Every day you wake up knowing that the streets took something.”
There were 562 homicide victims in Philadelphia last year. Most of the cases remain unsolved.
The family says until they get justice, they will continue to gather at the corner to remember his life.