PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A father preparing to walk his oldest daughter down the aisle. An aspiring actor who appeared as an extra in the “Creed” film franchise. A teenager who tried to help an injured friend. These are the stories of those killed in the all-too-familiar roar of another mass shooting.
Five people in a working-class Philadelphia neighborhood were shot dead Monday in what has become the deadliest in a series of shootings across the United States around the July 4 holiday. A gunman wearing a ski mask and body armor appeared to shoot random people while they were on the street or in a car, authorities said.
Ralph Moralis, 59; Joseph Wamah Jr., 31; Dymir Stanton, 29; Lashyd Merritt, 21; and DaJuan Brown, 15, were killed in the shooting. Four others, including two 2-year-old boys, were also injured.
The suspected shooter was arraigned Wednesday on multiple counts, including five counts of murder.
The families of the victims remain shattered as they now come to terms with a sense of senseless loss.
RALPH MORALIS: THE “GO-TO-GUY”
Ralph Moralis’ daughter was due to marry on Sunday. But instead of focusing on the joy of her wedding day, she is now planning her father’s funeral, said Karen Gleason, her sister-in-law.
All the joy they had felt before the momentous occasion was snatched away when Moralis was gunned down outside the childhood home where he lived. The whole family, including Moralis’ two brothers, have been crying since hearing the news.
“It’s unfathomable,” she said. “It’s so amazing you can’t even walk out the front door.”
The 59-year-old had been planning for weeks what he was going to wear, making sure he didn’t mess up during his first child’s wedding rehearsal. Moralis was always the one willing to go out of his way to help.
“He was the go-to person, whether you needed a bike for one of the kids or his cousin said, ‘I have to go to Florida. Can you drive me? “, Did she say. “He would do that. He was just always there for the family and always ready to help.
JOSEPH WAMAH JR. : Aspiring ACTOR WITH DEEP ARTISTIC TALENT
Joseph Wamah Jr. knew acting was his calling. The 31-year-old studied psychology at Chestnut Hill College but became active in the local Philadelphia acting community, close friend Terrance Harden said. He even got a role as an extra in one of the “Creed” movies, starring Michael B. Jordan.
Harden, who has known Wamah since high school, said the two were bonded by their love of movies. Before Wamah was found dead in a house early Tuesday, Harden had imagined the two would grow old as friends and achieve the level of success they wanted for each other.
“With such an attitude, such a positive outlook on life, it almost seems like good fortune should befall you,” he said. “That’s why it was so hard to believe it could have happened to him.”
Wamah’s twin sister, Josephine, and another sister, Jasmine, were angry on Wednesday as they spoke at a press conference about a brother who had a smile and a hug for everyone.
“I still can’t believe my brother is gone. And I just don’t understand why it happened. He was a good soul. He was nice to everyone,” Josephine Wamah said.
Wamah also liked to cook, despite his lack of culinary talent. But her real gift was as an artist, her sisters said.
“He had the worst kitchen. We ate him anyway because he just… he tried. He couldn’t cook, but he could draw his butt,” Josephine Wamah said. “It was so thorough and so passionate. It was so grounded and down to earth. It was just spiritual. You could feel the emotions of this man in every brushstroke.
Josephine Wamah said she plans to find all of her brother’s works and share his talent with the world.
“I just don’t understand how anyone could do this to my brother. I really loved him,” she said.
LASHYD MERRITT: A GOOD CHILD
Lashyd Merritt’s mother told WPVI-TV in Philadelphia that her son was a good boy who loved his family, especially his nieces and nephews. He loved buying them Christmas presents.
Marie Merritt said Lashyd Merritt, who would have turned 22 in September, went out to buy a snack during a work break on Monday.
“I don’t understand why people – no matter how angry they are – I don’t understand why anyone in the neighborhood would have these kinds of things, like guns – I don’t understand that,” he said. said Marie Merritt. “And you only take good people,”
She wants the alleged shooter to “rot in jail.” She also thinks about how her son would feel.
“(My heart is broken. I can feel him saying, ‘Why me?'”
DAJUAN BROWN: KILLED WHILE HELPING A FRIEND
DaJuan Brown’s mother, Nashaya Thomas, told WCAU-TV that her teenage son was heading to a store when gunfire started. Brown was helping a 13-year-old friend who had been shot twice in the legs when he was shot.
He was someone people couldn’t help but fall in love with.
“He lost his life trying to do a selfless act,” she said, “and that’s how he was when he was here.”
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Dupuy reported from New York.