South Philly community mourns TJ Siderio, 12-year-old fatally shot by Philadelphia police officer
Friends and family mourned mourned TJ this week, holding each other up as the waves of grief often took them off their feet.
Some would call him Tommy. Others Tom Dog. But most in Thomas Siderio’s tight-knit constellation of friends and family just knew him as TJ.
A name was important, Pastor Mandell Gross said Thursday morning at Lighthouse Baptist Church in South Philadelphia. It was important during TJ’s short life. And it was important as dozens of TJ’s loved ones gathered at his funeral to say their final goodbyes.
One by one, Gross asked the young people there, TJ’s friends, to say their names. Though he lamented the reason the community had gathered, Gross told the young people there to mourn the loss that they must try to come together in brighter days too. In TJ’s name.
On Thursday morning, as many as 100 people gathered to mourn the loss of TJ, the 12-year-old who was fatally shot in the back by a Philadelphia police officer March 1 in South Philadelphia. He is the youngest person to have been fatally shot by a Philadelphia police officer in decades.
» READ MORE: 12-year-old TJ Siderio was shot five doors down from where he’d tossed the gun, recordings show
That night, four plainclothes officers drove toward TJ and a 17-year-old, who were standing on the corner of 18th and Barbara, police said. After an officer turned on the car’s flashing lights, the officers heard gunfire, with a shot going into the unmarked police car, shattering a rear window, Commissioner Danielle Outlaw said Tuesday.
The officers then chased TJ and one officer fired toward TJ, who police said was holding a handgun as he fled east on Barbara Street. TJ was taken to a hospital and pronounced dead minutes later.
On Tuesday, Outlaw announced that the officer who shot and killed TJ will be fired, saying, “It was clear that the use-of-force policy was violated.” Outlaw did not elaborate on how the policy was violated.
» READ MORE: The Philly police officer who fatally shot a 12-year-old boy will be fired, Commissioner Danielle Outlaw said
A lawyer for TJ’s father previously disputed the accusation that the child fired the gun, calling it “egregious speculation” that has not been confirmed by evidence. Video and audio recordings analyzed by The Inquirer show that the gun that police say TJ tossed after shooting into the police car was found five doors down — or roughly 60 feet — from where he was fatally shot.
At a viewing Wednesday night and during Thursday’s funeral, friends and family mourned, holding one another up as waves of grief often took them off their feet. Many could not bear to be at the viewing for too long, overcome by sadness. Others lingered at his side, praying and bidding him farewell.
TJ, which stands for Thomas Joseph, was a mischievous and fun-loving kid who spent much of his time biking in the streets of South Philadelphia with a big group of close friends and filming videos of him and his crew fooling around. They’d lip-synch to songs and do silly dances. And they’d race through his neighborhood, daring one another to do tricks on their bikes.
More than 20 of his young friends attended the service, many of them donning black hoodies with the hashtag #LLTJ and emblazoned with pictures of TJ.
At his viewing Wednesday on a cold and rainy night, two single-file lines of people snaked from the sidewalk on Broad Street to TJ’s casket, where he lay in a gray suit with his hair combed back.
Two bouquets of roses were placed gently across TJ’s chest, with a canvas collage of pictures of TJ throughout his life overlooking him. A Sixers wreath and a wreath with the logo of the Froggy Carr Wench Brigade, the Mummers brigade he marched in, adorned his casket.
Next to his casket was a sign with a final, loving message from his parents, Thomas Siderio and Desirae Frame.
“Rest In Peace TJ my son. Love Daddy and Mommy always and forever.”
After the short sermon finished Thursday morning, the pallbearers gathered to carry TJ to his final resting place at Fernwood Cemetery. Most of the pallbearers were young, just a few years older than TJ.
They were the friends that became TJ’s family on the streets of South Philadelphia. And with TJ’s face on their chests, the friends gathered for one last picture together, holding the young boy’s memory in their hearts.