On a September evening in 2018, a selfless act of a mother’s love became the final chapter in the life of 22-year-old Dawn Boyd. The young Philadelphia woman was with friends and her 11-month-old daughter on the 5100 block of Haverford Avenue when a vehicle reportedly pulled up and unleashed a hail of bullets. In her last moments, Boyd shielded her infant daughter from the gunfire, a heroic act that saved her child’s life but resulted in her own tragic death.
The shooting, which
occurred on the night of September 28, 2018, was a scene of chaos and violence that left four people struck by bullets. Emergency services rushed to the West Philadelphia neighborhood to find a devastating scene. Boyd, having sustained multiple gunshot wounds, was transported to Penn Presbyterian Medical Center in critical condition. Despite the efforts of medical staff, she succumbed to her injuries the following day, on September 29, 2018. Another man, 24-year-old Kenyon Allford, was also fatally wounded in the attack and died at the hospital. Two other men, one of whom was identified as a 21-year-old Black male and the other a 35-year-old Black male, were also injured but were listed in stable condition.
In the wake of the deadly shooting, the Philadelphia Police Department launched an investigation into the murders of Dawn Boyd and Kenyon Allford. However, the case has remained unsolved, with no arrests made and no suspects publicly identified. Authorities have appealed to the public for any information that could lead to the apprehension of those responsible for the senseless violence that claimed the lives of a young mother and a young man, and left a community in mourning. The case is still listed on the Philadelphia Police Department's unsolved murders website, a somber reminder of a promise of justice yet to be fulfilled.
