My friend was killed on her porch at 83. We aren’t doing enough to protect older adults.

I had known Delores Robinson for close to 30 years before she was murdered on Valentine’s Day on the front porch of her North Philadelphia home, where she had lived for more than 40 years. When the police found her, they saw she had BB gun pellets in her head and hands, a stab wound on her neck, and cuts on her face.

Her next-door neighbor, Isaiah Rahatt, 47, was arrested the next day and charged with her murder.

At 83, Ms. Delores was retired, recovering from cancer, and looking forward to continuing one of her favorite pastimes of sitting on her beloved porch, conversing with neighbors and family.

I met Ms. Delores a few years after graduating with one of her daughters from Murrell Dobbins Career and Technical Education High School (also attended by North Philadelphia basketball icon Dawn Staley). I needed a desk, and her daughter knew Ms. Delores was trying to offload some furniture and told me to come by.

I was struck by her candor, warmth, and love for the many antiques in her home, including the beautiful desk (which I gratefully accepted). It was chilly that day, so we talked inside, but it was obvious her comfortable porch was usually the headquarters for such exchanges.

I was struck by her candor, warmth, and love.

Like many people who relish in exhibition art, fine pieces of furniture, watches, and clocks, Ms. Delores loved collecting items that moved something in her only she could explain.

My desk was an inviting and intimate piece of furniture. For years, its drawers kept everything — my diplomas, passport, and memorabilia ranging from pictures of my grandkids to personal letters from friends and family.

As far as I know, Ms. Delores was not overly concerned with the matters we assume preoccupy the elderly: a walk-in shower, slip-on shoes, a stair elevator. But I know she did long for — and deserved — a life where she didn’t have to worry about being killed by her next-door neighbor.

People in their 70s and 80s have lived through some of the most turbulent times in our nation’s history — from the civil rights movement to the Vietnam War, college protests, and Watergate. But for their legacy of activism, scholarship, and institutional knowledge, they have now become boiled down to the people casually dismissed with “OK, boomer,” a demographic most noteworthy for its value as a major consumer of targeted goods — a walk-in shower, slip-on shoes, a stair elevator.

Rarely is it noted that violence, neglect, abuse, and poverty are major everyday concerns of a significant percentage of the elderly in America.

According to a worldwide study on elder abuse released last month by the World Health Organization, there are roughly one billion people aged 60 and older, and one in six experienced some form of abuse during the past year; two out of three staff at nursing homes and long-term care facilities say they have abused someone in the past year. As the number of older adults rises to two billion by 2050, the WHO said it expects the problem of elder abuse to only increase over time.

Prevention strategies, according to the WHO, include policy changes to protect older people, educating law enforcement about their specific needs, mental health and social workers to the unique vulnerabilities of the elderly, and even emergency shelters to shield them from financial, emotional, and physical abuse until those issues are resolved.

» READ MORE: Empire of neglect: How a N.J. real estate family profited off the devastation of a Philly senior housing complex

After Ms. Delores died, Philadelphia Police Inspector Ernest Ransom, the commanding officer of the Philadelphia Police Department’s homicide unit, said investigators believed there were issues between Rahatt and the entire block. On the day Ms. Delores was killed, police believe Rahatt followed her into her home, where they struggled, then moved to the porch. There, police said, he stabbed her in the neck and shot her with the BB gun. The neighbors called the police at 8:15 p.m.

In Ms. Delores’ case, violence literally came to her door.

Now, her family and friends — including me — are left wondering what could have been done to save her, and what can be done to save other people her age who may also be at risk.

I was encouraged to see Mayor Cherelle L. Parker’s recent announcement of a new post — the director of public safety — whose office will coordinate how the city responds to crime. But I haven’t seen any mention of new or creative initiatives to protect older Philadelphians, and no sense of urgency to address this growing issue of violence against them.

The fact that Ms. Delores survived so much in her life, then met such a horrific end, shows how much more society needs to do to protect the elderly, and their right to feel safe in their own homes.

All of us should have the right to sit on our porch in peace, and not be victimized by the kind of violence that sends ripples through entire families, neighborhoods, and a demographic that deserves better.

Joseph Blake is the founder of Trestle Communications. He was a reporter and editor at the Daily News and The Inquirer from 1976 to 2000.