Let me first thank Dan and Jennifer for their thoughtful posts and all those who offered supportive comments to me and my family. I do appreciate them.

I am breaking my silence on this issue - with just a few words (less than 600). :)

On January 7, I had the honor and pleasure to stand with Michael A. Nutter, a former City Council colleague, as he took the oath of office to become Mayor. It was an honor that took place after I was sworn-in to my third term on Philadelphia City Council. I was among the first to hug the new Mayor, which I did with sincere pride. Not just because he became the first African-American Mayor to succeed another African-American Mayor, but because I know Michael A. Nutter has the potential to be a great mayor. I called him “Mr. Mayor” instead of “Mike”.

The next time I talked with Mayor Nutter was slightly over 100 hours into his new term. I called “Mike” to inform him of a police shooting that took place two hours before which resulted in the death of my 24-year-old cousin, Timothy Jerome Goode. Mayor Nutter asked for his name - and I responded “Timothy Goode”. Immediately, he recognized that this police shooting would be highly publicized. I informed the Mayor that my family would be focused on two primary pieces of evidence - the autopsy that would confirm whether my cousin was shot in the back twice and video surveillance footage of the shooting incident.

As documented, there were 110 police shootings in 2006 that resulted in 22 people losing their lives. I don’t know their story - but the police shooting of Timothy Jerome Goode is a story that is evolving into a case of “mistaken identity”. Timothy, known as “Tee”, has been characterized in the media as a suspected drug dealer who pointed a gun at police before he was shot. The evidence presented publicly thus far shows that he was shot in the back twice but there is no video footage of the incident although police surveillance cameras were positioned in the area.

Hundreds of people attended Tee’s funeral, not because he was the grand-nephew of a former Mayor or the second-cousin of a third-term at-large councilman. Many were family members who are not impressed with that fact, others were friends who were impressed with Tee - and heart-broken over his death. Timothy “Tee” Goode’s obituary reads quite different than the media portrayal of him by the police department.

Timothy Jerome Goode is remembered by those that knew him as an honor roll student that was valedictorian of his 2001 graduating class at Mercy Vocational High School. He accomplished that by ranking #1.

Timothy studied business in college, received a diploma as an electrician, and completed coursework to obtain a real estate license. Tee was also an accomplished musician and artist who intended to build a studio.

The police shooting of Timothy Jerome Goode was a case of “mistaken identity”. Tee was probably mistaken for someone who had nothing to live for - but he wasn’t a high school dropout, he was a valedictorian. Tee was to become a father for the first time this spring. He was running for his life - and into a brighter future - until he was mistaken for not having one.