That man is 36-year-old locksmith Jeff Templeton. He grew up in Germantown, and as a teenager he was in a gang and sold drugs, before turning his life around. When t-shirts appeared glamorizing the idea of not talking to police about crimes, or snitching, he knew he had to do something.
"I understand street code, I came from it," Templeton said. "But there's no honor when it comes to people dying, people being killed over it."
Just a few doors from where Action News spoke to Templeton is a variety store where a 20 year old merchant was bound with duct tape and executed just last week.
On Thursday, his grieving father said he hopes someone who knows something will come forward.
In other words, he hopes they will snitch.
"Anybody knows about him, please call the police. Because I want to get the killer," Alam Syed said.
But, can slogans on shirts change behavior?
"They have to get out of "snitches get stitches" mentality, and we all need help and we need to help each other," said nearby business owner Will Norris.
Click here to get the latest Philadelphia news and headlines from across the Delaware and Lehigh valleys.
