Police: Young man gunned down while playing football with kids
PHILADELPHIA (WTXF) - Philadelphia police say a young man was gunned down while playing football with kids in the city's Olney section.
"Good guy all the way around the board. I can't say nothing bad about him. He's just a good kid." That's the way friends and neighbors remembered 23-year-old Benjamin Drains Thursday after he was gunned down in an alley Tuesday night while tossing a football around with young kids.
"An unidentified shooter wearing a grey hoodie walked past him, turned around and basically executed him," Captain James Clark of the homicide unit told FOX 29.
"Benjamin, he was a nice wonderful kid. We know him for more than 15 years," next door neighbor Jose Martinez told FOX 29.
A memorial to Drains, who friends called "BJ", went up at 2nd and Nedro where he collapsed after being shot 8 times in an alley across the street. Candles lined his front porch where he lived with his mom a few doors away.
"Never been in trouble a day in his life so we really don't know what this is about," Captain Clark explained.
Captain Clark says the execution style murder was caught on nearby surveillance cameras. He says the boys tossing the football with Drains ran for their lives when the gunman opened fire.
"You can see their initial response is they jump, then they run and are actually cowering in like a corner. hoping they don't get shot," the captain added.
The captain says Drains worked for the city water department. His father, who passed away several years ago, was a Philadelphia police officer. He also has other relatives on the force.
"There's no respect for human life and we gotta do our best to get them off the streets," Clark said
Police have no suspects and no motive for the murder. More than 200 people attended a vigil for Benjamin Drains Wednesday night. Police have not yet released the video of the gunman. There's a $20,000 reward for information in this case
If you have any information, please call Philadelphia police at 215-686-3334.