On nightly walk, he meets death
Kwok Wai-Ho and his wife had dinner in their Oxford Circle home every night around 6:30 p.m. After they ate, he would leave his wife of 40 years and their home on Greeby Street near Summerdale Avenue and take a walk.
Kwok Wai-Ho and his wife had dinner in their Oxford Circle home every night around 6:30 p.m.
After they ate, he would leave his wife of 40 years and their home on Greeby Street near Summerdale Avenue and take a walk.
On July 10, he went for his nightly stroll and a roving gang of young toughs walked past the 69-year-old man.
"They passed him first and then one of them stopped, walked back and then he put him in a chokehold," said his niece, who asked that her name not be used.
"There was a neighbor that yelled and then the kid dropped him and his head hit the pavement," she continued.
Ho was placed on life-support at Jefferson University Hospital. The family agreed to take him off life support yesterday and he died shortly before 6 p.m.
"He was almost home," his niece said, her voice starting to break.
She said that a neighbor had to go and knock on Ho's door to tell his wife about what had happened.
"How can this kid live his life knowing that he murdered someone," his niece screamed yesterday.
"He wanted to come to this country to give his kids a better life and then something like this happened.
"This kid knew what he was doing to my uncle," she said, irate at the pain her family has endured this week.
Ho's family said that he was born in Hong Kong and moved to China as a young boy with his mother, father and three sisters.
He came to America in the '80s in search of a better life and worked for years in a Chinese food truck that he normally parked on Temple University's campus.
"He used to wake up at 3 or 4 a.m. every morning and he would prep his food and his wife would help him," said his other niece, who also asked that her name not be used.
Then, Ho's wife would go to work as a seamstress while Ho sold food.
"He was so hard-working," his niece said.
"He lived to do things for his family," his son said.
"He was the glue that held us together."
Ho also loved his grandchildren and would babysit them any chance that he got.
"He also really started to love watching basketball games," his son-in-law said.
Ho's family is offering a $10,000 reward through the Citizens Crime Commission, a reward that his niece says will be increased if the perpetrator's friends come forward and give police information.
Tipsters can contact the Citizens Crime Commission at 215-246-TIPS. *
