Robert Wilson III was gunned down while trying to stop the robbery of a Philadelphia GameStop store. Nine years later, the hero Philadelphia police officer is being remembered for giving the ultimate sacrifice to protect his community.
Wilson, a 30-year-old father, was killed on a snowy March 5, 2015 when two men attempted to rob a North Philadelphia GameStop store. Wilson was inside the store in full uniform buying his son a gift when two armed robbers entered and announced a holdup.
The officer got into a shootout with the two gunmen, diverting gunfire away from store staff and customers. Wilson was struck six times by gunfire and later died from his injuries.
Following the killing, Wilson was posthumously elevated to sergeant, his family was awarded the Medal of Valor by then President Barrack Obama and the police department renamed one of its most prestigious awards for him.
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"Sgt. Robert Wilson's acts were so courageous that then Police Commissioner Charles H. Ramsey stated that Sgt. Wilson 'redefined what valor means' and renamed the Philadelphia Police Department's Medal of Valor after Robert Wilson," Philadelphia police said in a news release. "The Sgt. Robert Wilson III Medal of Valor is awarded to officers for extraordinary acts of courage, without regard to personal safety, while engaged in actual combat with an armed and dangerous adversary."
On Tuesday, as has been the case in years' past, there was a balloon release in Wilson's memory. The green and yellow balloons rose into the sky above a mural of the slain 22nd District officer at South 60th Street and Baltimore Avenue in Southwest Philadelphia as Wilson's family, fellow officers and Philadelphia Police Commissioner Kevin Bethel looked on.
Bethel spoke of his interactions with Wilson when the department tested out body-worn cameras, calling it a memory that he "will never ever forget."
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"We can never forget the men and women who gave their lives for the police department," Bethel said. "We so appreciate the service he gave to us and his department."
Carlton Hipps and Ramone Williams pleaded guilty to killing Wilson to avoid the death penalty. The duo are serving life in Pennsylvania prison for the murder.
There are additional resources for people or communities that have endured gun violence in Philadelphia. Further information can be found here.
