Kevin Willis, a 28-year-old Black male from Philadelphia, was killed in the early minutes of Tuesday, August 30, 2016, after gunfire erupted on the 5500 block of Sansom Street in West Philadelphia. Police were called to the block at about 12:04 a.m., where they found Willis badly wounded from multiple gunshots. He had been shot more than once, and the injuries were serious enough that Philadelphia Fire Department medics rushed him to Penn Presbyterian Medical Center.
Willis lived nearby on the 5700 block of Spruce Street, only a short distance from where he was found. What began as a late-night emergency call quickly became a homicide investigation when he was pronounced dead later that morning at the hospital. The available police account does not describe a confrontation, motive, getaway vehicle, or the number of people involved, leaving the public record with only the stark outline of what happened: Willis was found shot on Sansom Street just after midnight and died from his injuries hours later.
Philadelphia police have listed Kevin Willis’s killing as an unsolved murder. No arrest, suspect name, or criminal charges have been publicly identified in the available online police information. Authorities have continued to ask anyone with information to contact the Philadelphia Police Department tip line, emphasizing that tips can be made anonymously.
As of the available online records, the case remains open, with no reported trial, conviction, or named suspect. Willis’s death is still presented by Philadelphia police as a case where investigators need help from the public to move the investigation forward and bring answers in the shooting that ended his life on August 30, 2016.
