After losing one boy to gun violence, this dad is smart to move his other sons out of Philly | Jenice Armstrong

The way things have deteriorated in certain zip codes, it’s smart if residents move their families someplace where bullets are less likely to fly.

Not everybody has that option, though.

But luckily Rob Green, 44, does and that’s what he plans to do. The single dad, who works in the Art Museum area, had no intention of ever moving from the city where he was born and raised. Then, in November, trouble came practically to his West Philly doorstep and it cost him the life of his second-oldest son. Now, he can’t get out of Philly fast enough.

“I have to think about what’s best for my three boys that I still have, and what’s best is that we get out of here,” Green told me.

It all started on Nov. 3. Green had been standing nearby as his 16-year-old, Ramone, played pickup basketball on Sansom Street between 59th and 60th. It was unseasonably warm and older people were outside and younger kids were running around. Green had just gotten off work from his job at CityView Condominiums. Before heading home, he delivered his usual warning to the youngsters playing with his son: “Pay attention to your surroundings.”

Then Green walked toward his home near 58th and Sansom. But before he got inside, shots rang out from a passing car, striking Ramone in the back. Police officers rushed the boy to Penn Presbyterian Medical Center.

He had been shot only once, but his injuries were extensive. He lost his right kidney; his aorta was damaged; and his bowels had to be reattached.

Green took a leave of absence to be there for his son as he recuperated. Doctors released him from the hospital on New Year’s Eve.

A junior at Workshop High School who loved making his own rap videos and playing Fortnite, Ramone was finally home.

His family members breathed a sigh of relief, thinking the worst was behind them and that their lives could get back to normal. But 13 days later, Ramone suddenly started experiencing shortness of breath and had to be readmitted to the hospital. He died there March 10.

“To lose my son this way, it’s not fair,” Green told me.

No one has been charged in the case, but Green suspects his son and his friends were shot at because of neighborhood rivalry issues.

Green is determined not to let the same thing happen to his remaining sons, ages 13, 14, and 18, all of whom live with him.

“My goal is to move away from here,” Green told me, adding that he’s thinking of going to Ardmore, Havertown, or Clifton Heights within the next few months.

I can’t say I blame him. If I were a parent, I would get my kids out, too.

The homicide rate is up 36% over what it was this time last year. I shudder to think of how bad things will get as the weather continues to warm up and people spend more time outside.

After Jhalil Shands, 25, was shot and killed while walking with his girlfriend at Third and Chestnut Streets on April 5, local law enforcement officials held a news conference announcing new crackdowns, including more federal prosecutions of local gun-violence cases and additional FBI agents to investigate violent crimes and gangs.

That’s something at least, but it’s going to take a lot more than that to fix what ails Philadelphia.

I’m scared for boys like Ramone. They are getting killed for doing the kinds of things youngsters do. Last month, I wrote about three teenagers who had been fatally wounded in three different incidents — each while playing basketball as Ramone had been doing before he was fatally wounded.

» READ MORE: We can’t let basketball courts at city recreation centers turn into shooting galleries | Jenice Armstrong

If boys can’t play ball near their homes or at recreation centers, then their neighborhoods aren’t safe places for them to be.

Green has decided to do the next best thing, and that’s move his remaining sons out of West Philly. I don’t blame him one bit.