On a tragic spring afternoon in Philadelphia, 50-year-old Tamara Aikens was fatally shot outside her home on the 2500 block of North Bancroft Street. It was just after 1:20 p.m. on Friday, April 9, 2021, when police responded to the scene and found the female victim suffering from multiple gunshot wounds. Officers rushed her to Temple University Hospital, but she succumbed to her injuries later that day.
The investigation into her death quickly uncovered a grim and interconnected series
of events. Authorities identified the suspect as Byron McDonald, then 27 years old, the father of Aikens' grandson. Prosecutors stated that McDonald drove a red Chevrolet Malibu, which was registered to his son's mother and Aikens' daughter, 25-year-old Morgan Braxton, and fired multiple shots from the passenger window, striking Aikens in front of her residence. This horrific act was reportedly captured on video.
Two days after her mother's murder, a missing person's report was filed for Morgan Braxton. The following day, a concerned relative contacted police, expressing fear for Braxton's safety due to her relationship with McDonald. This led officers to the home Braxton and McDonald shared on the 4200 block of North Eighth Street, where they made a devastating discovery. Braxton was found dead from gunshot wounds to the head.
The couple's 3-year-old son was not at the residence, prompting Pennsylvania State Police to issue an Amber Alert. Authorities located Braxton's red Chevrolet Malibu at the Aloft Hotel near Philadelphia International Airport. Inside a room rented using Braxton's credit card under McDonald's mother's name, police found McDonald and the child, who was unharmed.
Byron McDonald was arrested on April 12, 2021. He was subsequently charged with the murders of both Tamara Aikens and Morgan Braxton. In October 2023, a Philadelphia Common Pleas Court jury found Byron McDonald, by then 30 years old, guilty of two counts of third-degree murder for the shooting deaths of his son's mother and grandmother.
