Mysteries: Philly mother loses 2 sons in 2-year period
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- A Philadelphia mother knows the toll of the gun violence epidemic all too well. She lost two of her sons in just a two-year span, and while arrests have been made in one of the killings, she's still waiting for justice.
"Two children," Theresa Guyton said. "Two children to gun violence. It's heartbreaking. I'm still trying to figure out how I wake up every morning and keep going. I'm still trying to figure out my purpose. Why were my two children taken, and I'm still here?"
Guyton, a mom of five, counts two fewer children around her table these days.
"At least I know they're together," Guyton said. "But I'd rather they were here with me."
Her son, 19-year-old Tamir Jones, was shot and killed in October at 13th and Wallace Streets.
That murder investigation made the news for days because the teen's alleged killers were also connected to the deadly shooting outside Roxborough High School for which they were charged.
But it's her son Marcus Alexander's murder that "challenges your sanity."
On Jan. 31, 2020, Alexander was shot just before 10 p.m. near G and Clearfield Streets in Kensington.
"He was walking to the store and before he got to the store," Guyton said, "a person that was standing on the corner that he passed had a mask on, shot him eight times in the back. It seemed it was intentionally for him and they wanted him dead. What I don't know is why, who, what for."
So the case remains unsolved.
Guyton says police have told her they know her son's killer, but lack sufficient evidence to make an arrest.
This mom is haunted by the fate met by her sons. She is angry with the City of Philadelphia.
"What are you doing about it, because innocent people are getting killed," Guyton said.
A mother of five, and as of 2020, minus two.
Comfort comes from visits to Chelten Hills Cemetery, where Alexander and Jones rest just about 30 feet from one another.
"I think about them all the time," Guyton said.
If you have information on the murder case of Alexander, you're asked to call 215-686-TIPS.