PA - Hezekiah Bernard, 12, found fatally shot in trash can with plastic wrapped around his head, Philadelphia, 1 Sept 2023

[Ebon]

12-year-old boy found fatally shot in Philadelphia trash can with plastic around his head

PHILADELPHIA (TCD) -- Police are investigating a homicide after a sanitation worker discovered a 12-year-old boy’s body inside a trash can with a gunshot wound to the head.

truecrimedaily.com

PHILADELPHIA (TCD) -- Police are investigating a homicide after a sanitation worker discovered a 12-year-old boy’s body inside a trash can with a gunshot wound to the head.

On Aug. 29, detectives handed out flyers in the area and described the clothes he was wearing when he was found. Later that day, family members contacted the medical examiner’s office, who then shared photos of the boy. Relatives positively identified him as 12-year-old Hezekiah Bernard.

Investigators do not know where Bernard was shot and killed. Ransom said, "He was brutally killed and placed in a trash can."

Detectives "don’t know much about [Bernard’s] life," but Ransom explained he was in the care of DHS.

 

[bombardier]

the timeline makes me immediately suspicious of whoevers custody he was in.
Garbage picked up on Aug 22...only identified on the 29th when family saw his description in the flyer. If he had been reported missing they would have compared the files and not needed to make flyers. Who doesn't report a 12 year old missing after 7 days?

 

[bombardier]

Oh..looks like I was wrong and it's more complicated than that.

Teen shot, killed in West Philly was person of interest in 12-year-old boy's murder: Sources

Sources tell Action News the teen was a person of interest in the killing of Hezekiah Bernard whose body was found in a trash can on August 23.

6abc.com

A high school student who was killed early Saturday morning in Philadelphia was a person of interest in the murder of a 12-year-old boy, Action News has learned.
The teen, identified by police as 16-year-old Tysheer Shahe Hankinson from Upper Darby, was shot multiple times around 1:05 a.m. Saturday on the 5400 block of Poplar Street.

 

[bombardier]

Sweet looking kid. His service is tomorrow. His family must be Muslim because he's getting a Janazah (Islamic funeral prayer)

 

[Snoopster]

What the heck was going on here?

This is a 12 year old kid. Why wasn't he reported missing? Or if he was, why wasn't he matched right away?

 

[Gemmie]

Oh..looks like I was wrong and it's more complicated than that.

Teen shot, killed in West Philly was person of interest in 12-year-old boy's murder: Sources

Sources tell Action News the teen was a person of interest in the killing of Hezekiah Bernard whose body was found in a trash can on August 23.

6abc.com

A high school student who was killed early Saturday morning in Philadelphia was a person of interest in the murder of a 12-year-old boy, Action News has learned.
The teen, identified by police as 16-year-old Tysheer Shahe Hankinson from Upper Darby, was shot multiple times around 1:05 a.m. Saturday on the 5400 block of Poplar Street.

Sounds like Tysheer's shooting might have been payback for killing and dumping Hezekiah. Either that or someone else killed Hezekiah, and Tysheer was a witness to it, so the killer figured Tysheer had to go too in order to silence him.

I wonder what it is that Hezekiah did that someone felt he needed to be killed. I wonder if this is all gang related?

 

[Gemmie]

What the heck was going on here?

This is a 12 year old kid. Why wasn't he reported missing? Or if he was, why wasn't he matched right away?

Hard to tell if no one knows where he was living. Mother says he was at DHS, DHS says he wasn't. So just where was he staying?

Sources told Action News Bernard was not in the Department of Human Services care at the time. However, Bernard's mother said he was, and she has no idea what happened.

Teen shot, killed in West Philly was person of interest in 12-year-old boy's murder: Sources

Sources tell Action News the teen was a person of interest in the killing of Hezekiah Bernard whose body was found in a trash can on August 23.

6abc.com

 

[bombardier]

Hard to tell if no one knows where he was living. Mother says he was at DHS, DHS says he wasn't. So just where was he staying?

Sources told Action News Bernard was not in the Department of Human Services care at the time. However, Bernard's mother said he was, and she has no idea what happened.

Teen shot, killed in West Philly was person of interest in 12-year-old boy's murder: Sources

Sources tell Action News the teen was a person of interest in the killing of Hezekiah Bernard whose body was found in a trash can on August 23.

6abc.com

Kind of sounds like no one was watching out for him

 

[Gemmie]

Kind of sounds like no one was watching out for him

It's very sad when the child is only 12 years old.

 

[Gemmie]

Hezekiah's mom talking to an Ch 6 ABC reporter:

 

[ChatteringBirds]

DHS should know who had custody of this child, should they not? My heart goes out to his loved-ones.

 

[ChatteringBirds]

Bumping up case to keep an eye on it in the future. I can't find any updates since Sept. 2023. So assume no one has been charged in his case, no other updates since he was identified.