Friends, family remember boy who died while selling candy on SEPTA subway train

NORTH PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- Choking back tears, 26-year-old Jahras Edwards says he's been replaying the moment when 7-year-old Aden Devlin fell in between two SEPTA cars to his death.

"All I wanted to do was help these kids. I put all the responsibility on me," said Edwards. "I just have to wake up every day and go to sleep every night with this on my mind."

Family and friends gathered at Broad Street and Glenwood Avenue, just one block away from the Allegheny Station where the tragic incident unfolded.

Edwards, a family friend, had taken Aden and his 11-year-old brother Sunday night to sell candy on the Broad Street Line train.

Witnesses said the trio moved from car to car, and when Aden slipped and his brother tried to catch him. Edwards tried to grab them both, but wasn't able to save Aden.

"He had kids out here selling candy. Trying to show them how to not to go to the street when they get older," said Aden's mother Kimberly Dantzler.

Aden's parents said he enjoyed selling candy with Edwards, who they called Stick.

"My son was always happy. He was lucky," said Troy Devlin, Aden's dad. "He asked me every morning before he went to school to call Stick."

Family members called for making the platform between the cars safer.

As of right now, there is no plan to modify the platforms. As SEPTA and the NTSB investigate, Aden's family says no one is to blame.

"Let my baby rest in peace now," said Devlin.

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