PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) — The parents of a 25-year-old tow truck driver are pleading for answers after he was shot and killed while parked outside a smoke shop in Northeast Philadelphia on Sunday night.
Based on surveillance video, Aaron Whitfield Jr. and his girlfriend had been stopped for only a few minutes when another car pulled up, and two people inside opened fire.
Video obtained by Action News shows a silver Honda pulling alongside the tow truck on Bustleton Avenue, near the 2100 block of Knorr Street, before at least a dozen gunshots were fired, according to police.
The Honda then sped away. Police say two people inside the car were involved in the shooting, and both remain at large.
Police believe the two victims were about to enter the shop before the shooting occurred. There was no vehicle attached to the tow truck at the time.
Whitfield’s father, Aaron Whitfield Sr., said the family searched hospitals before learning his son had died at the scene.
“We couldn’t find him. We went to every hospital. He was still dead in the truck,” he said. “That’s my son, that’s my baby son.”
Whitfield’s 21-year-old girlfriend, whose name has not been released, remains hospitalized with extensive gunshot wounds to her leg. His parents said she often accompanied him while he worked.
“He’s not with the streets, the nonsense or none of that,” Whitfield Sr. said. “For somebody just to kill him and shoot his girl nine times, that’s wrong.”
Police have not identified a motive. Violence connected to towing territory disputes and wreck chasing has long been an issue in the city, though investigators have not said whether that played a role in this case.
Whitfield’s parents said they were initially wary of their son entering the towing profession, but that he loved the work and had not mentioned any problems.
Messages left for 448 Towing and Recovery, the company named on Whitfield’s truck, were not returned.
On December 22, a 20-year-old tow truck driver was shot by another driver in the city’s Frankford neighborhood. The victim died from his injuries on December 26.
Police say there is currently no definitive evidence linking the two incidents.
Police are urging anyone with information about the shooting to contact investigators.
Whitfield Sr. said he regularly warned his son to stay alert.
“I said, ‘Just be careful, just watch your surroundings.’ I tell them that every time he comes here.”
Whitfield’s parents described him as gentle and dependable.
“He ain’t no troublemaker. He’s a gentle giant,” his father said.
His mother, Kimberly Randleman, added, “He always went out of his way, took care of everybody. He would be one of the people that you could depend on.”
Randleman said the family is struggling to understand the violence.
“I don’t understand why they have no respect for nobody no more. They don’t care where you are, who you with, who you’re in front of, they don’t care,” she said.
The family has set up a GoFundMe to help cover funeral expenses, a cost for which they were unprepared.
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