Derwin Darnell Joseph Matthews, Jr. — a 31-year-old resident of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania — was shot to death on June 2, just hours after attending his city’s Pride celebration.
Local police say the shooting, captured on video, occurred after a man tried to take Matthews’ cell phone. The assailant shot Matthews in the stomach around 2:38 a.m., and Matthews was pronounced dead at 6:20 a.m. after being transported to Jefferson Hospital by police. Police are hunting for the suspect — believed to be in his late teens or 20s — but are not investigating the murder as a hate crime.
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She said the attack left her fearful for her life and will always stay with her.
Matthews was a chef and involved in the ballroom scene with The House of Prodigy.
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“Derwin was a dreamer. He was a visionary. I mean, like, all he wanted to do is exist in his own little world and help people,” his father, Derwin Matthews Sr., told WCAU.
His dad said that when he found out about his son’s murder, “I was just numb. Just shocked. I couldn’t even get a word out.”
Jacen Bowman, vice president of Philly Black Pride, told Philadelphia Gay News, “I hope — no, I pray — that anyone who was there when this happened SPEAKS UP. Now is not the time for silence. Now is not the time to stay quiet. Derwin deserves justice.”
Bowman, who was a close friend of Matthews Jr. and watched him grow up over the last 10 years, said he last hugged Matthews Jr. at the Sunday Pride celebration.
“I still can’t even believe that I am writing a ‘rest in peace’ to him, it doesn’t seem real,” Bowman told WCAU upon learning of his death on Monday morning. “Like I just hugged you last night. I literally just hugged you, and now you’re no longer here with us.”
The investigation is now being handled by the city police department’s homicide unit.
“He meant so much to so many of us. He was love. He was joy. He was community,” Bowman said. “And he cannot become just another hashtag. Just another Black queer man taken too soon and forgotten while the case goes cold. If you know something, say something…. We’re hurting. We’re grieving. We’re demanding justice.”
LGBTQ+ people are more than twice as likely to be victims of gun violence than their cisgender and straight peers, according to the firearm reform group Sandy Hook Promise.
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