Grieving girlfriend hopes Kensington shooting victim won't be forgotten

Amid the near-daily slayings in the city, the family of a 36-year-old man who was gunned down while sitting in his car outside a Kensington store this month hopes his killing doesn't get overlooked.

"I don't think these people had a clue who they killed, what they did, or the pain that they caused," Jessica Vega, 36, said in her North Philadelphia home Wednesday.

Vega's boyfriend, Angel Bermudez, was shot several times about 4:50 p.m. Oct. 11 at D and Westmoreland Streets. Police took him to Temple University Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Although her boyfriend had in the past been convicted of drug offenses and gun possession, he had turned his life around after getting out of state prison a few years ago, Vega said. Prison records show he was released from State Correctional Institution-Mahanoy in Schuylkill County in January 2015 after serving two years in a drug case.

"Ever since he came home, he's been trying to fix all his mistakes," said Vega, who is studying at Community College of Philadelphia to become a drug counselor.

The couple had a daughter, 17, and two sons, 12 and 14. Bermudez also had two other children, a son, 20, who lives with his mother in Philadelphia, and a daughter, 18, who lives in Ohio, Vega said.

"He was a good dad," she said, who would watch his youngest son play soccer and planned to go with their daughter to her prom.

Bermudez was working for a Hatboro-based construction company, but on Oct. 11 didn't go to work because he was sick. That afternoon, he drove their 14-year-old son to Nelson Playground in Fairhill, Vega said. Then he drove to a store at D and Westmoreland.

"He didn't even get out of the car" when a black Chevrolet Impala with tinted windows pulled up and a man inside started shooting, Vega said police told her. She said she believes that two men were in the car and that the passenger fired the shots.

Homicide Capt. John Ryan said Tuesday that police were still investigating and declined to elaborate. No arrests have been made.

Bermudez was outgoing, and liked to joke and hang out in bars and play pool when he wasn't working or spending time with his children, Vega said. She said word on the street was that the shooter may have intended to target another man whom Bermudez had met in prison and who recently got out. Bermudez socialized with different people and may have been spotted speaking to that man, whom she said she did not know.

In the last two weeks, Vega said. she has had trouble sleeping. She has reached out to the antiviolence group Operation Save Our City to talk to other women whose family members were murdered.

"They all said the same thing — that the pain never goes away," Vega said.

Her 17-year-old daughter, Angeliz Bermudez, a senior at Philadelphia Virtual Academy, said she had planned to take her father to the prom because he was "cute." Now, she wants justice in his death.

Vega said her 14-year-old son was still in disbelief, at times asking when his father will return. Her younger son, 12, "tries to play strong" and now constantly takes photos of himself with a framed picture of his father, she said.

Anyone with information on the shooting can call 215-686-TIPS (8477). As with all Philadelphia homicides, a $20,000 city reward is offered for information leading to an arrest and conviction.