Man gunned down in park where he coached basketball league

Rick Williams Image
Sunday, August 20, 2017
Man gunned down in park where he coached
Man gunned down in park where he coached. Rick Williams reports during Action News at 11 p.m. on August 19, 2017.

PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- A community man is gunned down in the park where he coached a youth basketball league.

His mother Tamara Whitfield said, "He was a great person from that area because he helped the kids in the boys and girls club. He did a lot of things with basketball for the children. Everybody in the neighborhood loved him."

That's why Tamara Whitfield says she has a hard time accepting what happened to her son, Kyheem Pittman.

"I'm sick every day, depressed, my household has changed. It's affected all of my children in different ways," Whitfield said.

On Friday August 12, 2016, Pittman was at a playground along the 1700 block of Meadow Street in Philadelphia's Frankford section.

Just before 10:30 p.m., police were called for a "person with a gun." When they arrived they found the 24-year-old suffering from a gunshot wound to the upper torso. He was pronounced dead at the hospital.

Whitfield said, "It wasn't a robbery. It was intended for him, the person really wanted him dead."

The City of Philadelphia is offering up to $20,000 reward money for information that leads to the arrest and conviction of the person responsible.

All you have to do is call the Citizens Crime Commission at 215-546-TIPS.

All calls will remain anonymous.

"I just want the person who knows they killed my son to come forward because you took a hole out of my heart from me, and I just want you to come forward for my child, for my grandchild, and for my family. Just give us some justice," Whitfield said.