Philadelphia city employees, loved ones and local leaders mourned the death of a Parks and Recreation employee Monday afternoon at her funeral service. Tiffany Fletcher was a victim of the city’s ongoing gun violence crisis that her work tried to stop. NBC10’s Rosemary Connors reports.
City leaders and members of a West Philadelphia community gathered Monday for the funeral of a parks and recreation employee who was killed by a stray bullet outside the rec center she served.
The viewing and funeral for Tiffany Fletcher, a 41-year-old mother of three gunned down earlier this month at the Mill Creek Playground, was held at the Deliverance Evangelistic Church.
The viewing began at 9 a.m., and the funeral took place at 11 a.m.
Fletcher was described as someone who cared greatly about her community and answered the call to service.
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"Our city is inspired by her dedication and deeply saddened by the lost of Tiffany. And we can say with assurance she lived her life as an exemplary Philadelphian, as an exemplary human, as someone we can only hope to be as good as." Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney said at the services.
Fletcher was caught in the crossfire at the Mill Creek Playground when the teen began shooting at a group returning fire, Philadelphia Police Department Chief Inspector Frank Vanore said.
Fletcher only began working at the rec center this spring, heeding the call for more staffers needed to open pools during the summer, Philadelphia Parks and Recreation Commissioner Kathryn Ott Lovell said. Ott Lovell said. She worked as a pool maintenance attendant and agreed to stay beyond the summer to work at the rec center located less than two blocks from where she and her family lived.
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“She was a wonderful girl. She loved everybody. She gave you the shirt off her back, she gave you the food off her table,” one of Fletcher’s nieces said at a press conference earlier this month.
A 14-year-old is charged with her murder.
There are additional resources for people or communities that have endured gun violence in Philadelphia. Further information can be found here.
