Loved Ones Want Justice for Man Who Was Gunned Down While Carrying Baby

Loved ones want justice for a man who was shot and killed while carrying a baby in Philadelphia Tuesday evening.

Stephen Hoston III, 30, was walking with his girlfriend and three children at the intersection of Hawthorne and Harrison streets in the Frankford section of the city just before 7 p.m.

“He had the kids with him,” Hoston’s family member, who did not want to be identified, told NBC10. “He was helping watch his girlfriend’s nieces and nephews and they didn’t get a chance to make it back to my mom’s house.”

Hoston was carrying one of the children, a 6-month-old baby boy, in a car seat, when a gunman opened fire.

Hoston was shot in the face, neck and chest. He was taken to Temple University Hospital where he was pronounced dead at 7:15 p.m. He lived just a few blocks from the shooting scene.

The infant was not hurt during the shooting. 

No arrests have been made and a weapon has not been recovered.

A witness said they spotted a car fleeing the scene westbound on Hawthorne Street after the shooting though police are unsure if the gunman was inside the car or if it was someone who was fleeing the gunfire.

Police believe the shooting was a targeted attack. Hoston's loved one told NBC10 she's not sure why anyone would want him dead.

"He was a good guy," she said. "“He wasn’t in the streets. He didn’t do drugs. None of that. So it’s kind of odd what happened to him and how it happened to him and where it happened to him.”

Hoston's relative told NBC10 he had just celebrated his birthday last month.

“He was 30 but he was like a big kid,” she said. “He wasn’t that guy. He was just a big kid. He was a good guy.”

As of the end of Tuesday, there were 103 homicides in Philadelphia in 2022. The total is up about 1% from the same date last year, which was the deadliest on record.