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Fairmount Park shooting: Victim's family speaks out
The family of one of the Fairmount Park shooting victims speaks out asking why did the shooting have to happen as they grieve.
PHILADELPHIA - The grandmother of the 21-year-old man shot and killed in Fairmount Park late Monday evening in Philadelphia wants to know why Mikail Bowers had to lose his life.
Grieving family speaks out:
On a North Philadelphia porch, a family gathers to mourn. "I’m going to miss my grandson," said Wanda Bowers.
Sitting together at the home of the 64-year-old, the Bowers family came to remember 21-year-old Mikail slain Sunday evening in the mayhem at Fairmont Park.
Wanda Bowers learned of her grandson’s death from his sister in a late-night call. She said, "I just thought I was dreaming to be honest. Even when I still lay down, I thought I was going to wake up and it would still be a dream."
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The Bowers family said Mikail had gone to the Lemon Hill section of the park for a Memorial Day party. Police tell them the father of three-year-old twins-a boy and girl-was struck once in the chest by gunfire. Bowers said, "Mikail was a good boy. He got into a little trouble as normal teens do, but other than that he was a good boy."
Seated on the porch, but unwilling to speak on camera, Mikail’s mother, who recounts as her son lay dying in the park, he urged a woman to call her using Facetime. She said her son turned to look at her but never spoke.
'Stop killing people':
Wanda Bowers urged Philadelphians to, "Stop all this unnecessary shooting. If you feel as though you need to do that, go into the service, enter the Army - use it that way. Stop killing these people."
The Bowers said Mikail attended high school at a juvenile institution near Harrisburg and was seeking work in food service or operating a forklift, areas in which he’d earned certification.
He’d reunited with the mother of his twins and was planning to move forward with his young life until a bullet wiped it all away. His grandmother said, "I really want to know the reason for the shooting - for this mass killing. My grandson didn’t deserve it, nor did the other kids deserve that."