Philadelphia: Rally and march demands justice for Robert Jones, murdered by off-duty homicide detective

Philadelphia, PA – On a chilly November 2 afternoon, nearly a month after off-duty homicide detective Christopher Sweeney shot and killed Robert Jones, activists and community members joined the friends and family of Jones at City Hall to demand justice and march on the Philadelphia Police Department headquarters.

A month before, on October 3, Robert Jones, a 54-year-old Black man and roadside assistance operator, stopped his car when he saw off-duty homicide detective Christopher Sweeney pull over in his personal vehicle and stop in the middle of a turning lane. Believing that the driver needed help, Jones, in his high-visibility vest, left his vehicle to check in on the stopped driver. As Jones approached unarmed, Sweeney, still seated, opened fire on Jones through the car window, hitting Jones at least four times. Jones died shortly after the paramedics arrived.

Since the murder, Christopher Sweeney has not been fired nor arrested, only placed on administrative leave as the Philadelphia Police Department “investigate” the incident. Images and information about Sweeney have been scrubbed from the internet. The Philadelphia news media, in the few articles published about the killing, initially misaligned Jones as a “car-jacker,” much to the anger and disbelief of Jones’ family.

The event included speakers from the Philadelphia Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression and Jews Against White Supremacy, as well as Robert Jones’ aunt, brother and other outraged friends and family members. All speakers were united in demanding the firing and arrest of killer cop Christopher Sweeney and for city officials to recognize and speak on the injustice.

After the speeches, the protesters took the streets to march up North Broad Street to the current location of the Philadelphia Police headquarters. Chants such as “Say his name: Robert Jones,” and “Cell blocks for killer cops,” garnered many sympathetic honks from the stopped traffic.

At the police headquarters, more family members took the mic and began addressing the police directly. “I don’t understand,” Michael Jones, Robert’s brother, said to the police just outside the building, “how y’all can sit out here and support a fucking murderer! We’re hurt, we’re mad, we’re fucking angry, we want answers! And y’all are sitting there – how can y’all sleep at night?”

As the sun began to set, Simon Miscenich of PAARPR delivered the final speech of the day, saying, “I need to tell you all to expect to be asked back out again. Because even if we get something we want from this system we will have to organize and fight because they will only give us what we fight to take and cannot give us what we need to end this cycle.”

Miscenich continued, “What we need, needs to be made ourselves, from the fighting people. We need to organize ourselves into a new way of life based in community control, real democracy for the people that really make up this society.”

#PhiladelphiaPA #InjusticeSystem #PAARPR