A 78-year-old survived cancer. Then, he was killed by a stray bullet in North Philadelphia.
Steve Alexander, 78, was one of three men wounded in a daylight shooting on a North Philly street. He died shortly afterward.
Two years ago, Steve Alexander “rang the bell” inside a Media hospital, celebrating the end of treatment for colon cancer.
On Tuesday afternoon, his life ended when a stray bullet struck him in the back in North Philadelphia. He was 78.
Police say that, shortly before 5 p.m. Tuesday, as the 2200 block of Ridge Avenue bustled with bystanders and cars during rush-hour traffic, a light-colored SUV pulled up and four gunmen fired more than 50 shots toward a group of young men on the sidewalk.
A 71-year-old and a 30-year-old were wounded by gunfire. Alexander was struck in the back, and died at Temple University Hospital shortly after.
No arrests have been made.
Alexander’s sister, Paulette Coles, said he was picking up cigarettes when the gunfire erupted.
Coles, 73, said in an interview from her Strawberry Mansion home on Wednesday that her brother was the eighth of 10 children, born in Mobile, Ala. Her mother, she said, brought her and her siblings to the Philadelphia area in 1960 to be closer to family.
Alexander lived in Lansing, Mich., for several years, working for General Motors, before returning to Philly in the 1970s, she said. He worked odd jobs through the remainder of his adult life and had two children who are now grown, she said.
“Anything you say goes with him. He was just a happy-go-lucky guy. He never argued with nobody,” Coles said.
“All he wanted for was a cigarette and a beer,” she said. “He was just happy.”
Happy, she said, even as he navigated life’s challenges. Cancer. Housing. He had spent the last year or so living at the Bethesda Project shelter, at 19th and Oxford Streets, but was on his way to living independently again.
He had just had an appointment with a housing specialist and visited an apartment in South Philadelphia last week, she said.
“He was going to be on his own again,” she said. “And then this happened.”
Staff and residents at the Bethesda Project facility on Wednesday said Alexander was always seated in a green lawn chair outside the building, cigarette in hand, greeting passersby and staff as they arrived each morning.
Tanya Cleveland said he was social and helped introduce new residents. He welcomed her each morning when she arrived to start her shift.
He took care of his appearance, she said, and often changed his clothes several times a day to make sure his shirts were crisp and clean.
Every morning, at 6:30 a.m., he would bring his outfits for the day down to the community room and iron them. He was the only one in the facility who used the iron, a staff member named Kelly joked.
On Wednesday, she said, her boss placed the ironing board in the basement. It was too painful to look at.
Investigators continue to search for the gunmen. Anyone with information is asked to submit tips to police at 215-686-TIPS (8477).
