Violent deaths leave broken hearts for survivors
ROBERT EDWARDS, 31, was shot and killed Sept. 11, 2015, in Chester. According to Chester police, members of the Chester Police Narcotics Unit were requested to assist the FBI with the execution of a search warrant in the 600 block of Highland Avenue. The warrant involved child pornography and, according to Chester authorities, the FBI planned to perform entry “due to the probability of firearms on location, as well as the FBI assessment on child pornography offenders.” About 6 a.m., FBI agents breached the front door, while announcing themselves. Several shots rang out from within the residence. As a result of shots fired, Edwards was killed.
District Attorney Jack Whelan, the county’s top law enforcement officer, said the case is still pending clearance as a justifiable homicide.
JOSHUA THOMPSON is missed by his father, Stanley Thompson.
Joshua died of multiple gunshot wounds on Sept. 26, 2015, in East Lansdowne. He was 25.
According to East Lansdowne police, he was found shot in the street, in the 100 block of Lewis Avenue, about 8 p.m. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
An investigation is ongoing. Anyone with information is asked to call East Lansdowne police at 610-259-2308.
JAMES MOORE III, 25, liked nice things. His name on the streets was “L.V.,” for high-end designer Louis Vuitton. He even had “L.V.” tattooed on his arm.
Moore worked for his father’s limousine company for four years.
“I miss everything about him,” James Moore Jr. said.
The younger Moore was one of four children of Moore Jr. and the late Ireanna Moore. At 45, she died from complications from a medical procedure Sept. 7, 2011.
Moore Jr. was at home in Glassboro, N.J., when he got word about his son’s death — not from police but from someone who had been there on the street.
It was shortly after midnight on Oct. 2, 2015, when Chester police were dispatched to the 1100 block of West Carlas Lane for a report of several shots fired in the area. Officer then received an update from Delaware County Communications indicating a victim was on the ground. Arriving officers were flagged down and subsequently found Moore lying face down in the front of residence in the 1400 block of Ruth L. Bennett Place. Moore was pronounced dead at the scene.
Moore Jr. said he’s not sure how his son, who resided with him, wound up in Chester that night.
“I had to ID him at the Medical Examiner’s office. It was the worst day of my life, one of them. The other was when my wife died,” he said.
JARED OAKES, 28, was a lov- ing father, son, brother, uncle, nephew and cousin.
“My family and I refuse to have his murder go unsolved,” sister Jonika Oakes said, reiterating a post on the family’s gofundme site. “His brother Kairae’s life was cut short for no reason. His case now sits somewhere in a file cabinet unsolved.”
Kairae died in a hail of 27 bullets on Nov. 11, 2007. “I thought about Kairae every day, now it’s Kairae and Jared,” the sister said.
Yeadon police believe Jared Oakes was ambushed, gunned down by a killer who emerged from a dark yard and fired at least seven times as Oakes exited his vehicle in a typically quiet section of the borough shortly after 7 p.m. on Oct. 12, 2015.
Officers were responding to a 911 call for shots fired, initially in the 400 block of Bonsall Avenue, but they were rerouted to Bonsall Avenue and Penn Street.
Jonika Oakes, one of seven surviving siblings, last saw Jared when he was being taken from the ambulance to the emergency room at Penn Presbyterian Trauma Center in Philadelphia.
“He looked like he was really fighting for his life … We thought he was going to be OK,” she said. He died on the operating room table.
“It was Columbus Day,” the sister said. “He was loved tremendously by his family and he is missed.”
There are so many things Jonika, especially, misses about Jared.
“Jared was my best friend,” she said. “I miss his smile. I miss just picking up the phone and talking to him.”
Whenever she had to work an overnight shift, she always knew she could call Jared for a weemorning pick-me-up.
“No matter what, he would wake up and talk to me,” she said.
Jared Oakes, a carpenter who did odd jobs and rehabbed properties, is additionally survived by a son, 10-year-old Keon.
A homicide investigation is ongoing by Detective Joseph “Jay” Houghton of the Yeadon Police Department. Anyone with information is asked to call Yeadon police at 610-623-1500.
“I had to ID him at the Medical Examiner’s office. It was the worst day of my life, one of them. The other was when my wife died.”
— James Moore Jr. on his son James Moore III “My family and I refuse to have his murder go unsolved. His brother Kairae’s life was cut short for no reason. His case now sits somewhere in a file cabinet unsolved.”
— Jonika Oakes on her brother Jared Oakes
JAMES FLOOD, 26 is remembered by his mom as a humble, handsome young man.
“He was my second of five children,” said Toni Flood, 52.
Born with two collapsed lungs, he was hospitalized for three weeks.
“When he was born, he just looked up at me, she said.
Later, when Toni woke up following the complicated Cesarean birth, she thought she’d lost the baby.
“I woke up to a photo of him on my dresser … my grandmother said he was gone,” Flood said.
It took her a few seconds to understand her grandmother merely meant the baby had been transferred to another hospital.
“We prayed,” she said.
She prayed for her son again on Sunday, Oct. 18, 2015. It was shortly before 1:30 a.m. when Chester police were dispatched to the 2000 block of Edgmont Avenue for a shooting. Flood was found lying in the walkway between two residences, unresponsive with multiple gunshot wounds. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
Toni Flood posts messages
“He was a father figure for the other children … He was very mature, very responsible and very clean.”
— Toni Flood on her son James Flood
“She was sweet and kind to everyone. She was a really good listener. I think that’s what drew people to her.”
— Lois Vincent on her daughter Jami Vincent “Every day I think of him, every day I have a moment I just have to break down. I know he’s my angel now.”
— Tasha Pernsley on her son Rahmir Pernsley “I cry a lot. I just miss everything about him.”
— Charmaine Burrell on her nephew Derrick Burrell J.
about and photographs of her son on her Facebook page almost daily.
“A mother’s love never stops,” she posted in December.
She said one of her favorite photographs of James was taken on the day he returned home after serving five years in prison for a firearms violation.
Toni Flood wasn’t feeling the Christmas spirit she got a call from a friend who told her to pick up a copy of the Daily Times.
“We know you’re missing James and pray you’ll think of good times and find a reason to smile during this holiday season,” read an In Memoriam the Ford family placed for Toni and her family.
“That was my Christmas present,” Toni Flood said.
There are so many things she misses about her son, so many cherished memories, poignant as well as funny.
When Toni and James’ father separated after 18 years, James stepped up as man of the house, she said. He was about 9 at the time.
“He did the dishes and vacuumed,” she said. “He was a father figure for the other children … He was very mature, very responsible and very clean.”
Clean to the point of being a neat-nik, she said.
As a young boy, she said, he would take his own fork and spoon to restaurants.
RAHMIR PERNSLEY, 18, was into boxing, basketball and football.
“He was talent. Everything he touched, he did well,” said his father, Patrick.
Known affectionately as Roddy, he was the third born child of Tasha and Patrick Pernsley. His middle name, Robert, was in memory of a cousin who died of leukemia on the day Rahmir was born.
He aspired to be a professional boxer, like his dad.
A few days before his death, he’d been training with his father a gym at Third and Yarnall streets.
It was at 3:45 p.m. on Oct. 30 when Chester police were dispatched to the area of Fifth and Parker streets for a report of a shooting. Arriving officers found Pernsley lying on a sidewalk with a gunshot wound in his chest. He was in grave condition when he was transported to Crozer-Chester Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead at 4:33 p.m.
Patrick was at home when it happened. Rahmir’s mother, Tasha, was at work, driving a bus for the Chester Upland School District.
“I dreamed about it the night before it happened,” said Tasha Pernsley, noting she had a special bond with Rahmir. “I don’t know if God was trying to prepare me for it.”
When they lost Rahmir, who is buried in Eden Cemetery with his maternal great-grandmother, the couple said they lost part of themselves.
“There is a hole in my heart … just him walking through the door is what I miss,” his father said.
“Every day I think of him, every day I have a moment I just have to break down,” his mother said. “I know he’s my angel now.”
A homicide investigation is ongoing by Detective Larry Weigand of the Chester Police Department and Detective Michael Jay of the Delaware County Criminal Investigation Division. Anyone with information is asked to call Weigand at 610-447-8426, Jay at 610-891-4700 or 911.
DERRICK BURRELL JR., 30, was a people person.
“You alright,” was his trademark saying, said Charmaine Burrell, an aunt who raised him.
If there was gunfire on the street, he would call around the family to make sure they were safe. The whole family would check in with each other.
“It could be 4 in the morning,” she said.
When his father, Derrick Burrell Sr. was fatally stabbed six months earlier, he took it very hard.
“’We’re a very close family,” she said.
Burrell Jr. was pronounced dead in his unit at the Chester Apartments complex. Police were dispatched to the scene in the 1200 block of West Ninth Street shortly before 8 a.m. on Friday, Nov. 13. Police said Burrell Jr. was asleep in bed when a lone, masked gunman entered the apartment through an unlocked door and opened fire. Burrell Jr. was struck multiple times in what authorities said appeared to be a retaliatory attack. Police said his girlfriend had just left the apartment to escort children to school just prior to the fatal shooting.
Charmaine Burrell, who’s affectionately known as Aunt Moo, got the phone call from her nephew’s girlfriend.
Knowing that he was asleep when it happened gives her some comfort.
“He didn’t know what happened to him,” she said.
The aunt said her nephew was at her house the day before his death.
“He was washing his clothes and playing with his cousins,” she said.
It’s been hard for her to even sit in the living room, because that’s where she last saw him.
“I cry a lot,” she said. “I just miss everything about him.”
Burrell Jr. was working as a meat cutter at a market in Collingdale.
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 610-891-4700, or 911.
JAMI DAWN VINCENT, 33, probably didn’t know how many friends she had, and how much they loved her.
Lois Vincent, her mother, said there had to be 300 people gathered for her viewing at Minshall Shropshire-Bleyler Funeral Home.
“I stood for three hours. The line was out the door,” Lois Vincent said. Among the familiar family and friends paying their last respects were many unfamiliar faces, people who introduced themselves as customers from the Lotus Restaurant in Media, where Jami Vincent worked as manager for the last four years, as well as the Outback in Springfield, where she previously worked.
“That spoke volumes to me,” Lois Vincent said.
Vincent died as a result of a shooting on Dec. 20, 2015. She was pronounced dead by a paramedic shortly after police arrived at the scene inside her residence in the 1200 block of Saville Avenuem, Eddystone. In addition to her mother and father, Fred, she’s survived by two sisters and a brother, among other relatives.
Roger J. McBride, 31, who lists residences in both the 1200 and 900 block of Saville Avenue, is charged with thirddegree murder and involuntary manslaughter in the case. Police said McBride and Vincent were housemates in recent weeks.
“She was sweet and kind to everyone,” Lois Vincent said of her daughter. “She was a really good listener. I think that’s what drew people to her.”
She owned and operated an etsy online store, specializing in vintage clothing. She also liked to read, write short stores and poetry, and spend time with family.
Jami Vincent especially adored her nephews, Waylon, 2 ½, and his cousin, Ashford, 1 ½.
To the boys, she simply was “Aunt Beep-Beep.”
When Waylon was younger, every time he would grab one of his aunt’s earrings she’d say, ‘Beep-Beep,’ “Lois said.
LUIS LOPEZ, 23, of Chester, was a great guy, said his sister, Ofelia Lopez.
“He lived with me and we always did things together,” she said.
It was at 11:29 p.m. on Dec. 28, 2015, when Chester police were called to the 1400 block of Culhane Street for a shooting that resulted from a robbery.
Luis Lopez was found, unresponsive, lying outside the doorway of a home on the block. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
When asked what she misses the most about her brother, Ofelia Lopez said, “Everything.”
Luis Lopez was the father of a 4-yearold son.