Philadelphia

‘My Niece Needed Her Father': Gunmen Loose After Stray Bullet Killed Dad Driving Daughter, 4

Nearly a week after a shootout in broad daylight along a busy Philadelphia street claimed the life of a young father driving his 4-year-old daughter home, the gunmen remain on the loose.

Alsharay Ford, 26, had just picked his little girl up about 6 p.m. Thursday, police and Ford's relatives said, when gunfire erupted along Germantown Avenue near Wister Street, where Ford was driving with the child.

Two bullets not meant for the father found their way into his car, striking him in the head and the shoulder.

"My niece needed her father, and now her family is going to have to do our best to try to fill in where that void is going to be," Ford's sister told people gathered at a vigil over the weekend near the scene of the shooting. "Whoever did this to him, they didn't break our family ... we are standing strong. We will be OK. And my brother is actually in a better place than any of us standing here."

She offered a message for the shooters responsible for her brother's death: "If you know the individuals who did it, we want you to take this message to them: We forgive you."

Ford's daughter, who witnessed the shooting, was uninjured. She held hands with her aunt during the vigil, as people lit candles and prayed.

By all accounts, Ford was a loving and attentive father to his little girl. A friend told NBC10 Ford had been working and helping to support his family since he was 16 and dreamed of being a cook and someday leaving Philadelphia.

"The kid was his world," Kenny Richardson, who knew Ford since working with him in 2010, said. "For something like this to happen, it's just heartbreaking."

Richardson said Ford helped him when he himself was injured in a shooting several years ago.

"He was my manager. I got shot in the same way. A stray bullet hit me. I was out of work three months, and I thought I was going to lose my job," Richardson said. "But they came through ... paid my bills ... and that was all because of him."

Richardson asked how many more innocent people need to be shot for the violence to end. About the same time as the shootout that left Ford dead, a 10-year-old girl in North Philadelphia fell victim to a stray bullet. That little girl survived.

"You get tired of saying the same old thing. You get tired of doing the same old thing," Richardson said. "He has a 4-year-old daughter who now is going to grow up without a dad, and I mean a great dad."

Anyone with information on the shooting should contact homicide detectives at 215-686-3334, the police tip line at 215-686-8477 or text a tip to PPD TIP (773847). Tipsters may remain anonymous, and, as with any homicide in the City of Philadelphia, a $20,000 reward is offered for information leading to arrest and conviction.

Ford's funeral is set for Aug. 8. His family is raising money so they can afford to bury him. You can donate by clicking here.

Police are investigating two separate shootings in which innocent bystanders were struck by stray bullets. A 10-year-old girl was shot in the arm while a 25-year-old man was shot in the head and shoulder while driving his 4-year-old daughter. NBC10’s Keith Jones has the details.
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