Robert “Bobby” Yocum III, a 14-year-old male from Philadelphia, was killed on June 10, 2022, in the Summerdale section of the city. He was at his home on the 800 block of Bridge Street on a Friday afternoon, sitting on the front porch in a neighborhood where children had been outside playing near the house. It was just before 4 p.m., around the time many young people were beginning their summer break, when a blue car, described by police as possibly a Chevy, came down the street.
Witnesses said the vehicle slowed as it approached. One neighbor recalled seeing a gun sticking out of a partly opened window and trying to warn the children, but the warning did not reach them in time. Gunfire erupted from the vehicle toward the porch area, where witnesses estimated more than a dozen young people had been gathered. Bobby was struck in the chest. A 15-year-old girl was also shot in the right eye and was later listed in stable condition.
Bobby's father, Robert Yocum Jr., said he heard the shots and opened the door as his son came running inside. In the moments after the shooting, Bobby held his father's hand and pleaded with him not to let him die. He was rushed to Albert Einstein Medical Center, but he died shortly after arriving. His father said he had been expecting to attend Bobby's eighth-grade graduation that day, but instead the day became the one that took his son from him.
Neighbors remembered Bobby as a good kid who helped people around him. One neighbor said he would help with groceries and offer to cut the lawn if she needed it. His obituary identified him as Robert John Yocum III, born in Philadelphia on December 11, 2007, and described him as loved by his father, siblings, grandparents, extended family, and friends.
Police described the shooting as a drive-by and said they did not have a clear motive at the time. Investigators said the shooter fired from the blue sedan, striking Bobby and the other teenager before the vehicle left the area. Authorities asked anyone with information to contact Philadelphia police.
No arrests were reported in the immediate aftermath of the shooting, and the case remains listed by Philadelphia Police Unsolved Murders as unsolved. No named suspect, charges, trial, or conviction has been publicly identified in the available online source information.
