A 16-year-old was killed in what police called an ‘execution’ steps from his Oxford Circle home: ‘It really broke me’

Jamil Wyatt did not have anyone left to lean on before he found Patricia Whyee and her family, said Whyee.

His father was never in his life, said Whyee, and his mother struggled with drug addiction. One day, the 16-year-old — who had befriended Whyee’s two teen sons at Northeast High School — came back home only to find that nobody was there, said Whyee.

And so, about a month ago, Whyee said, she took Wyatt in, letting him stay with her and her family in their Oxford Circle home, sleeping on a couch and living day-to-day life as though he were one of her own children.

Wyatt was killed Tuesday afternoon in what police said was an “execution-type shooting,” with multiple gunmen firing more than 50 shots while chasing the teen down an alley steps away from Whyee’s home, police said. After catching up with Wyatt, police said, the gunmen stood over the teen and fired at him.

When he was shot, Wyatt was the only one in the alley aside from the gunmen and the shooting appeared to be targeted, Staff Inspector Ernest Ransom, the commanding officer of the Philadelphia Police Department Homicide Unit, said at a Wednesday news conference.

Video from a neighbor’s surveillance camera shows the attack unfold. First, Wyatt is seen walking casually with three kids down the alley.

Another video from the neighbor’s camera then shows a white sedan drive down the alley and come to a stop, with three men clad in black getting out of the car and firing multiple shots at Wyatt as they chase him down the alley. The video ends as it appears Wyatt is hit.

Whyee said the teen was headed to a nearby store to buy milk with her children.

Police said they responded to reports of the shooting shortly after 4 p.m. and found Wyatt lying on the ground in a rear alley that runs between homes on Van Kirk Street and Oxford Avenue. He was taken to Jefferson Frankford Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 4:39 p.m. with multiple gunshot wounds to his upper torso.

Shortly after Wyatt and her children went to the store, Whyee heard gunshots coming from the back of her home and rushed outside, where she saw a white car with a paper license plate and three men dressed in black shooting toward the alley. Wyatt or her children were nowhere to be seen, she said.

The gunmen were last seen fleeing in a white Nissan Sentra with tinted windows, police said.

Moments later, after the gunmen sped away, Whyee heard a neighbor yell that a boy had been shot and soon found Wyatt lying face down, covered in blood, she said. Whyee, who is a nurse, quickly turned the teen over and began administering CPR before police arrived and scooped him up to take him to the hospital.

Before taking Wyatt away, police asked if anyone nearby knew the teen. Whyee, who had housed and fed him for those weeks, responded without hesitation.

“He’s my son,” she told police.

Wearing a house dress and without shoes, Whyee got inside the police car and rode with Wyatt to the hospital where he was pronounced dead within the hour.

No arrests were made and no motive was released. Police are still searching for the suspects.

A trail of the remnants of Tuesday’s violence was visible Wednesday morning in the alley where Wyatt was killed.

Chalk circles marking where shell casings had fallen dotted the alley nearly halfway down the block, interrupted only by ribbons of red crime scene tape left behind. A pair of slippers sat on the pavement. Bullet holes could be seen in glass block windows in the back of one home.

Just below the bullet holes, a small splatter of blood could be seen. There were 60 shell casings recovered from the scene, said Ransom.

In the few short weeks Wyatt had stayed in her home, the teen had become like part of her family, said Whyee. She would help him apply for jobs, bringing home applications to Dunkin’ and McDonald’s, she said. He would help with chores around the house and kept his space clean and organized.

He’d play with her children, as though he had always been there. His death, she said, was like losing a member of her family.

“That’s why it really broke me,” Whyee said. “That’s why it’s breaking me. I took him in like a son. I noticed he needed help. I just wanted to help him.”

Anyone with information is asked to call the Homicide Unit at 215-686-3334 or to call or text the department’s tip line at 215-686-8477. Tipsters can be anonymous.