Crime Fighters: Who gunned down a father of 7 in Wissinoming?

ByHeather Grubola WPVI logo
Monday, February 6, 2023
Who gunned down a father of 7 in Wissinoming?
A man returns home after spending time with extended family members. His fiancé says after he got out of his car he was gunned down.

PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- A man returns home after spending time with extended family members. His fiancé says after he got out of his car he was gunned down.

Daren Collins' family remembers him as the center of attention.

"He was a people person. Everybody loved him. He always was joking, a hard worker, he worked nine-to-five as an engineer. He was 34 when he passed away. He has seven kids," said his sister Latisha Reid.

And like everyone else in the family, he had a nickname.

"Nobody could say anything bad about Mikey, that's what he called him, Mikey, Mikey," said his fiancé Arit Edem.

On Tuesday, July 12, Collins had been hanging out with family members at his mother's house. Just after 10 p.m. his fiancé said she got a phone call from him.

"He called me saying he was on his way home."

Edem says she went about her nightly activities. About 15 minutes later she heard something.

"I want to say maybe like around like 10:15, 10:20ish I put my kids to bed and I hear gunshots ring out. So I look outside and I see his car parked outside but I didn't hear him come inside the house."

Edem went outside the house along the 6100 block of Walker Street in Philadelphia's Wissinoming section. She found him lying on the ground. He was pronounced dead at the hospital. She feels this was not a random act.

"It wasn't a robbery. I don't know why it was done but definitely not random."

"It was like you took an innocent soul from us. Innocent," said his sister Senora Collins.

The City of Philadelphia is offering up to $20,000 in reward money for the arrest and conviction of the person responsible. All you have to do is call the Citizens Crime Commission at 215-546-TIPS. All calls will remain anonymous.

"You really never know the last time you're going to see somebody," said Reid.

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