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Front row, left to right: Cordelia Ann Stephens,  Diane Collins,  Carolyn Stridiron,  Kenneth Sawyer, Dennis Fountroy, Thomas Thornton, Wilhemina Smith, Debbie Gibson-Datts,  Claudia Hearst-Curry,

Second Row, left to right: Mrs. Alice Johnson (Teacher).  Edmond Exum (died in Vietnam in ’67), Diane Averette-Stedman,  Judith Cohran, Jacque Patterson-Wescott, Janice Ogletree, Gertrude Scott, Samuel Shreeves (deceased).

Third Row, left to right: Lester Wise, James Wilson (deceased), Michael Coger, John Henry Gordon, Sam Tillery

The Way They Were & Now Their Story on Page 10

By Tyree Johnson

Editor/Publisher

During a neighborhood rally last week protesting the murder of Robert “Bobby” Lewis, Deputy Police Commissioner Kevin Bethel urged the crowd to stop being afraid and do something about the violence in our community.

If you do nothing, he warned, then they will be holding more candlelight vigils “down the street and up the street.”

Bethel made his comments on a Wednesday, August 18, near the corner of 57th and Rodman Streets where Lewis, 53, was gunned down four days earlier.

One week after the rally and one block away, 20-year-old Devon Gregory was shot to death at 58th and Rodman Streets.

Police said Gregory had parked his car on the 5900 Block of Cedar Avenue, the closest available spot nearly two blocks from his home on the 5800 Block of Larchwood Avenue. He was coming home from his job at BJ’s in South Philly or after being out with friends. As he walked home, he was accosted by a young man on a bike around 2:51 in the morning. The gunman shot him in his chest and arm.

Gregory was pronounced dead 15-minutes later at 3:06 AM.

Police believe robbery was the motive behind the murder.

“He shot him and didn’t get anything,” said Gregory’s grandmother, Thelma Gregory-Smith. Devon had no money on him and his cell phone was found nearby, she said police told her.

“If this man knew what he did to this family,” she said and then paused. “They just don’t care.”

Ms. Gregory-Smith said police believe her grandson’s killer may have committed five other holdups on the same day just before murdering Devon.

She also said police have a lead on a suspect in the robberies and murder.

Ironically, the person or persons who committed the August 14 murder of Bobby Lewis also rode bicycles - and had guns.

Ms. Gregory-Smith described her grandson as a”pretty boy,” who was more interested in women, clothes “and loved his family.”

She said he worked at BJ’s for two years and was a graduate of Glen Mills School. He had no children.

“He was not a fighter,” she said through the sadness. “He didn’t want anything to mess with his face.”

Then she added, “He was a sweetheart. He had a smile that could light up a room.”