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Save Our Streets: Unsolved Cases
The shooting death of promising athlete Angelo Walker in July of 2020 has yet to be solved. His football coach struggles to come to terms with Angelo's death.
OVERBROOK - Transitioning from the field to the sidelines, Coach Bill Sytsma says football is still his passion, one that’s brought a lot of purpose as he transitioned from player to coach.
In recent years, there has been unexpected pain, as well.
"It’s a little over two years and it’s still difficult to think about," Sytsma said.
Before COVID-19, as head coach of the Frankford High School football team, Coach Sytsma lost two players. When the pandemic hit in March of 2020, schools closed for in-person learning and after-school activities, including athletics, canceled.
No outlet. No safe space.
That was a huge worry for Coach Sytsma, that only continued into the summer.
"The summer before, we did a game night. So, on Friday nights, we would have the players come in, just so they could be off the streets. So, definitely, when schools and activities were shut down, at that point, it was a big worry. And, sure enough, I still remember that July night getting that text message that he was shot," Coach Sytsma explained.
His 15-year-old sophomore player, Angelo Walker, was shot and killed July 5th, while riding his bicycle, according to Philadelphia Police. It happened just before 8:30 in the evening on Nassau Road. Two other men, 36 and 35-years-old, were also wounded in the shooting.
Homicide Captain Jason Smith says witnesses saw someone fire from a gray Nissan Altima. They recovered five 40 caliber cartridge casings from the scene.
Police believe Angelo might have been targeted over his social media activity and involvement with a group.
Sytsma says he met with Angelo and his mom just a few months before, right before COVID-19 closed schools.
"We were talking about, you know, he really wanted to try to make football work and we were discussing a plan, like what he needed to do academically, athletically. How to train," Sytsma said. "Just how young, full of life he was. He’s a vibrant kid and you know, just…it’s really tough when you see something like that happen and what it does to your family. What it does to your team. What it does to everybody involved."
The team did finally have a season the following spring and made a memorial for Angelo that they kept on the sideline. Organizations like the Ertz Foundation reached out to help.
"It was a big effort to get us through that year," Sytsma added. "Like, getting through that spring season was really, really, really tough. It just didn’t feel right, it really didn’t."
Sytsma took a step back from coaching and joined Open Door Abuse Awareness and Prevention or ODAAP’s Board of Directors, another organization that helped his team in the weeks after Angelo’s murder.
Sytsma became vocal about safely getting kids back in sports in the midst of the pandemic. Action to move forward, but when it came to Angelo, time stood still.
Two years later, no arrests.
"When will we know the full story of what happened and why? Why Angelo lost his life?" Sytsma questioned. "We have this culture where, in the streets, that you can’t come forward. That if you know something, you have to bottle it up, but on the other part of that, you have people who are grieving, families who are grieving and it’s really not fair."
That culture, something Sytsma talks with his players about.
He doesn’t know how an arrest would make him feel. But, he knows Angelo and his family deserve it.
"It doesn’t change the facts. It doesn’t bring Angelo back. I pray for the closure for his family. I know his family really, really struggled with this and, so, if it brings them closure, I really hope they find resolution in this case and find who is responsible for his murder."
Captain Smith say they are investigating if several other shootings have a connection to Angelo’s murder.
Anyone with information should contact the Philadelphia Police Homicide Unit at 215-592-5859