The brother of Rachel King, who was killed in front of her son while waiting in a drive thru at a Cheltenham Dunkin’, spoke about King’s life and the impact she was planning to make on her community in the future. NBC10’s Brian Sheehan reports.
Two days after his mother was shot and killed in front of him, 11-year-old Jalen remains in shock.
"He's carrying a picture of my sister around. Won't let it go," Allen King, the boy’s uncle and victim’s brother, told NBC10 on Thursday. "I believe the picture might tear. That'll be an issue."
On Tuesday around 7:30 a.m., Jalen and his mother, 35-year-old Rachel King of Elkins Park, were sitting inside her Ford Edge in the drive-thru of the Dunkin’ Donuts at the Melrose Shopping Center on Cheltenham Avenue in Cheltenham, Pennsylvania.
“Tuesday morning she was taking Jalen to his violin lesson. That’s before school,” Allen King said. “And they stopped at Dunkin’ Donuts.”
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As they sat, a light-colored sedan, possibly a Ford or Mercury, drove directly behind King’s vehicle and parked a short distance away from the drive-thru lane. An unidentified man then exited the vehicle, walked up to the driver’s side of King’s SUV, pulled out a gun and opened fire, shooting her multiple times, according to investigators. The gunman then went back into his vehicle and fled the scene eastbound on Cheltenham Avenue, police said.
King died from her injuries. Her son, who was sitting in the backseat, was not physically injured, but witnessed his mother’s murder.
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Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin Steele said the gunman – described as a thin Black male wearing light-colored pants and a dark-colored hooded sweatshirt with the hood covering his head – never tried to open the door of King’s vehicle nor did he appear to speak with her prior to the shooting.
“This appears to be a targeted murder of a mother,” Steele said.
King was a beloved teacher at Grover Cleveland Elementary School in Philadelphia’s Tioga-Nicetown neighborhood. She had plans of becoming a principal and starting her own curriculum consulting business.
“She was my history teacher,” Saleem Garay, an 8th grade student at Grover Cleveland, told NBC10. “She was my favorite teacher. She meant a lot to me.”
Thursday afternoon, a judge granted King’s family emergency custody of her son.
“The saddest part about this is [Jalen’s] biological father was supposed to take him to violin that morning and every Tuesday morning,” Allen King said. “You can’t help but think that if that was the case, none of this would’ve happened.”
Allen King said he and his sister were 2 ½ years apart and described her as his best friend and the loudest and brightest person he knew.
"She didn't deserve that. No one deserves that. My nephew didn't deserve that. My family doesn't deserve that," he said.
King created a memorial fund for his sister as his family continues to plan her funeral.
“My sister was good. And this isn’t because she was my sister,” he said. “If you looked at the definition of good and had a check box, she would check those boxes.”
No arrests have been made in King’s murder.
If you have any information on the gunman or vehicle, please call the Cheltenham Township Police Department at 215-885-1600 (extension 400) or Montgomery County Detectives at 610-226-5553. You can also leave a tip by calling the Montco Detective Tip Line at 610-278-DOIT (3648). Anonymous text tips can also be submitted using MontcoCrimeTips on the STOPit! app.
