A former principal at Mercy Vocational High School remembers Timothy Goode as a well-liked president of the school honor society.
He was "handsome . . . quiet . . . always respectful," Sister Rosemary Herron said.
Philadelphia police paint a darker portrait. They say Goode, 24, a grand-nephew of former Mayor W. Wilson Goode Sr., was observed by undercover officers dealing drugs with another man in a high-crime neighborhood.
Goode was shot and killed by one of those plainclothes officers as he fled a week ago.
Though the circumstances of Goode's death in Germantown are hotly contested, this much is not: a top student, apprentice electrician and budding rapper so brainy some called him "the Professor" lost his life on a street rife with illegal guns and drugs.
His connection to a prominent family only underscored the pervasiveness of that lethal mix.
Police say Goode, who had no criminal record, ran from the officers before he was shot. He was hit once in the side and once in the lower back, and a 9mm pistol and bag of crack vials were found on and near his body, police say. The investigation is continuing.
Relatives say that Goode, known as Tee, was law-abiding and began carrying a gun some time ago when he obtained a city-issued license.
That permit was confiscated a few months ago, his mother said, when he and a relative were stopped by police while driving.
Pamela Goode, 41, a school district secretary, said that she was uncertain of the details, but that her son was taken to 35th Police District Headquarters at Broad and Champlost Streets. His gun permit was lifted, but he was not charged with any crime, she said.
Police spokesman Lt. Frank Vanore said privacy restrictions under Pennsylvania's Uniform Firearms Act prohibited the department from commenting publicly on any firearms license.
Why did Goode carry a gun?
His mother said it was for personal protection.
"In this city you have people sticking you up. You have home invasions. This is a violent city. If it wasn't for my religion, I'd probably have one, too," said Pamela Goode, a reborn Christian who covers her hair with a white scarf as a sign of devotion.
Goode's decision to walk around "strapped," the slang of the street for carrying an illegal gun, seemed out of character for a man described as level-headed, a man expecting his first child with his girlfriend Sheena Allen, a devoted brother whose best advice to his sisters Karinn, 19, and Tiara, 17, was always: "Pay attention."
Former Mayor Wilson Goode said Tee was a grandson of his younger brother Edward, and that he saw Tee every July 4 at a family reunion at his Overbrook Farms home.
"He was a delightful young man" with leadership qualities that were on display when Tee invited the former mayor to speak at a Mercy Career Day, Goode said.
Regarding the police statement that Tee was armed with a gun not registered in his name when he was killed, Goode said, "I can't speak to that. I don't know anything about it."
Is it possible his grand-nephew, in addition to his many attributes, also was capable of breaking the law?
"Anything is possible," said Goode, who now leads a faith-based mentoring program for children whose parents are in prison. "I am just saying that is not the Tee I knew."
Amid the controversy of the high-profile shooting is a stark reminder, Goode said: "No one in this city is immune from violence. It touches all families. It reaches deep and tears the hearts out of mothers, fathers, sisters and brothers daily in this city.
"The fact that Timothy, at 24 years of age, could have his life cut short means we have to redouble our efforts" to rid Philadelphia of illegal guns and drugs, he said.
That theme was echoed by speakers at Goode's funeral Wednesday, when about 500 mourners came together for a standing-room only service at New Redeem Apostolic Church on Germantown Avenue a few blocks from where Goode was shot.
"Drugs are the problem that brings this kind of thing on us," said the brother of Goode's girlfriend, who urged adults to combat drugs by taking their children to wholesome pursuits like football and basketball games.
"If you see them doing things they have no business doing," said another speaker, a friend of Tee's parents, "make a sound."