PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Family and friends of a 64-year-old woman killed last week gathered Tuesday evening to mourn and release balloons outside her childhood home in Overbrook.
Afdera Hatten, known to those who loved her as “Penny” or “Miss Penny”, was walking with a cane in Philadelphia’s Kingsessing neighborhood early on Thursday, Feb. 20, when someone shot and killed her. Investigators are still searching for a suspect.
Disturbed and heartbroken feelings were shared by a couple dozen of Miss Penny’s loved ones, who gathered at 54th and Diamond streets to pray together, lean on each other for comfort and release balloons in her honor.
Her son, Kyle Hatten, is devastated. “To be honest with you, I haven’t slept in three days. Last night, I spent all night crying,” he shared.
“I got three daughters. I had to tell them that someone murder their grandmother. My sisters had to tell their children that someone murdered their grandmother. This is the hardest thing I’ve ever had to deal with in my entire life.”
Hatten’s daughter Alexis says she was very family-oriented. “The only thing she wanted to do was to see more of her grandkids and her kids more often. That’s all she wanted out of life,” she said.
That makes her loss all the more heartbreaking for fellow daughter Angel.
“I have a six-week-old, and my sister before me, she has a four-month-old, and she was not able to meet them. It’s really sad because I know that she really, really loved her kids and loved her grandkids,” she said.
Kyle called the outpouring of support “overwhelming.”
“The fact that there actually is multiple people that are there for us is just amazing,” he said. “People cared about my mom.”