Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey and the family of slain Officer Moses Walker Jr. will formally announce the Officer Moses Walker Jr. Scholarship Fund on Thursday, Oct. 4.
The 3:30 p.m. announcement will be made at the offices of ACHIEVEability 21 S. 61st Street in West Philadelphia.
The Walker Scholarship will benefit single-parent ACHIEVEability program participants who are receiving at least a 3.0 GPA at an accredited Associate’s or Bachelor’s degree program. The scholarships will help participants with expenses such as textbooks and tuition.
ACHIEVEability is close to the Walker family as the officer spent countless hours volunteering at ACHIEVEability’s Community Center and Computer Lab.
“I am proud to give to this great program which has given so much to my family and the West Philadelphia community. I know my son would have wanted this,” said Wayne Lipscomb, mother of Officer Walker and former ACHIEVEability participant and employee.
Ramsey and Lipscomb will be presenting ACHIEVEability’s CEO Marcus Allen with the first donation to the Officer MosesWalker Jr. Scholarship fund.
Mayor Michael Nutter was among those who attended the funeral service for Walker and called for an end to violence and a rededication to peace.
“I am sick of the ignorance, sick of the violence, sick of death,” Nutter said at the funeral. “Let us all rededicate our lives to peace and let Moses Walker – Moses would lead the way – show us how to live our lives in peace, in truth, in love.”
Walker, 40, had changed into street clothes after an overnight shift at the 22nd police district and was walking to a bus stop in the 2200 block of Cecil B. Moore Ave. about 6 a.m. on Aug 18 when two men approached him. According to police, Walker had time only to draw his gun before he was shot in the chest, stomach and arm. The robbery attempt was similar to several other robberies in the area in the last few months.
Police have charged two men in the slaying, Rafael Jones, 23, and Chancier McFarland, 19.
The slaying sparked criticism of the Board of Probation and Parole, which allowed Jones to leave prison and go without an electronic bracelet for more than two weeks after being charged in connection with an earlier robbery.
State Sen. Anthony Hardy Williams has called on Gov. Tom Corbett’s office to lead an investigation into why Jones was on the street.
