Family, Phila. Police Seek Answers In Unsolved 2011 Murder of Social Worker
By Tony Hanson
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- It's a cold case, but police and a distraught mother still look for justice in a 2011 murder in Cedarbrook, in the far northwest section of Philadelphia.
It was an ambush that inexplicably targeted a good man: a father, son, and social worker committed to children. And a $20,000 reward in the case has so far led to no good leads.
Philadelphia Police homicide unit captain James Clark says 29-year-old Rodney Boykins had just left a friend's house when he was gunned down.
"He pulled to the corner to a stop sign, another vehicle pulls up, a vehicle next to him rolls down the window, and fires," Clark tells KYW Newsradio.
It was a hail of gunfire -- more than a dozen shots -- but Boykins, hit several times, was able to drive himself to the hospital.
But he could only share the most basic details with police and family before dying two weeks later.
"He just said, 'They tried to kill me like they did Tupac,' " recalls his mother Jeanette. "But that was all he said."
Police say Boykins had no contact with the law, and his family says he had no known enemies and was committed to his son and his work.
"I just want anybody, if they can just let the police know or someone know, because somebody knows who shot him," Jeanette Boykins says.
Anyone with information is urged to call the Philadelphia homicide unit at 215-686-3334.
