Remembering young lives cut short too soon by violence
Third in a four-part series profiling the 34 victims of homicide in Delaware County
in 2015.
MICHAEL COLLIER will forever be remembered by his older sister, Mynisha Collier-Toombs, as a sweet man. He would have celebrated his 34th birthday on Jan. 5.
“His family misses him,” the 35-year-old Toombs said. “The pain is unbearable.”
Toombs said Collier left the streets to get his barber’s license, “only to get gunned down in front of our house.”
Colllier was one of five children.
“Everybody loved him. There wasn’t a nasty bone in his body. He did anything for anyone. That’s how we were raised,” Collier-Toombs said. Growing up, Collier-Toombs and her brother had a lot of fun.
“Being only a year apart, we did a lot together,” she said.
The person who killed her brother, she said, took a good man.
“For what?” she asked.
“Nobody ever said anything bad about him. It’s crazy,” Collier-Toombs said. ““People are being shot. It’s not normal. We have to do better in Chester. This ain’t how life is supposed to be. We are supposed to grow old together.”
It was about 9:46 p.m. on May 31, 2015, when Chester police were dispatched to the area of Third and Engle streets for a shooting. Collier was found in the street, bleeding profusely from multiple gunshot wounds. A female was lying at his legs, crying. Collier was pronounced dead at the scene.
A homicide investigation is continuing by Detective Larry Weigand of the Chester Police Department and Detective Thomas Scarpato of the Delaware County Criminal Investigation Division. Anyone with information is asked to call Weigand at 610447-8426, Scarpato at 610-8914900 or 911.
RASHEED GLOVER, 22, was the beloved grandson of Cynthia Longer.
“I raised him since he was about 2 months old,” said Longer, 58. “He called me mom.”
When he was a baby, she called him her “Boo.” Eventually, his nickname became “Booder.”
Longer said she moved to Upper Darby seven years ago to get Glover away from the streets in Chester, but he kept going back.
She said he’d taken some business courses, and talked about pursuing some type of career in retail.
Her grandson was always the type of person who was satisfied with what he had at any given time.
“He was happy, kind, respectful and very humble,” Longer said. “He would do anything for anybody.”
Between his mom and dad’s blended families, Glover had at least 13 siblings.
“All he ever wanted to do was look after me and make sure his brothers and sisters were cared for,” she said.
It was about 8:40 p.m. on June 12 when police were dispatched to the area of 11th and Tilghman streets for a shooting victim. Authorities were en route when they were notified the victim was transported to Crozer-Chester Medical Center by an unknown male driving a black Mercedes. Glover was pronounced dead at the hospital.
Glover’s daughter, Nylee, was born Sept. 3, 2015.
“He never got to meet her,” Longer said. “He would have been the perfect father.”
A homicide investigation is ongoing by Detective Charles Bothwell of the Chester Police Department and Detective William Wright of the Delaware County Criminal Investigation Division. Anyone with information is asked to call Bothwell at 610-447-7908, Wright at 610891-4700 or 911.
• JAMES NICKERSON III, 29, was known as “Jazzo.”
He was one of two children of Vanessa Griffith.
“He was my baby,” she said. “I just miss everything about him, his phone calls, his visits.”
Nickerson was the father of three children, including twin boys, Taylor and Tyler, born on Feb. 21, 2015. His daughter, Ja’Miyah, will be 2 on Feb. 8.
“Oh God, he cherished those children,” Nickerson said. “He worshipped their world. To be a young father, a day didn’t go by that he didn’t see his children.”
It was about 7:11 a.m. on June 30 when Chester police were dispatched to the 1200 block of Beverly Lane for a shooting victim. An arriving officer was flagged down to a gold 1998 Buick Park Avenue. Nickerson was found in the driver’s seat. He was pronounced dead at the scene at 7:18 a.m.
“I will never be the same woman again,” said Griffith. “I got that phone call … it changed my life forever.”
Griffith said she had a phone conversation with her son on June 29 about 10 p.m.
They talked about him stopping by the next day to pick up some laundry he’d left a few days prior.
“All right, I will see you tomorrow. I love you,” were the last words she heard from her son.
A homicide investigation is ongoing by Detective Nelson Collins of the Chester Police Department and Detective Sgt. William Gordon of the Delaware County Criminal Investigation Division.
“Everybody loved him. There wasn’t a nasty bone in his body. He did anything for anyone. That’s how we were raise. — Mynisha CollierToombs on her younger brother Michael Collier “All he ever wanted to do was look after me and make sure his brothers and sisters were cared for.” — Cynthia Longer on her grandson Rasheed Glover “I will never by the same woman again. I got that phone call ... and it changed my life forever.” — Vanessa Griffith on her son Jamers Nickerson III