Family grieves loss of 9-year-old who died in Tacony Creek: 'I just want him back'
FRANKFORD - A family is heartbroken after the sudden loss of their 9-year-old son, who was pulled from the Tacony Creek and died last Sunday.
His mother and stepfather shared their grief as they try to make sense of the tragedy.
"Everybody knew Ernest. Ernest was the life of everything," Jessie Moie said.
Ernest was beloved in his neighborhood and he was known to chat up local business owners and run up and down the streets, making new friends.
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Philadelphia police are investigating after they say a nine-year-old boy died after he was pulled from the Tacony Creek Sunday evening.
Moie continued, "It’s been hard. He used to wait for me to get off of work to come home. Me and him was real close. Real close."
Moie says he had a big personality. He loved superheroes and loved his friends at the John Marshall School.
Saturday, the community gathered to honor the boy, his mother suffering the unimaginable pain of losing a child.
"He was a bright, beautiful young man," his mom, Robin Harmon choked back tears. "He was only nine and he was taken."
She said they used to call him Pop pop because he was such an old soul – empathetic and wise beyond his years.
Harmon described her son, saying, "We only had a little bit of change, but Ernest wanted a burger. He seen an old man who needed something to eat and he gave it to him. He took his one little dollar out his pocket and change and gave it to the old man."
The Frankford community rallied around the grieving family as they try to cope with the pain of losing Ernest.
"He did not deserve this at all! He did not deserve this! I just want him back," Harmon cried.