From an early age, Ameen Greer-Plummer bent pipe cleaners and twisty ties into stick figure people.
He created thousands of “pipe people” — as his mother, Gwendolyn, called them — stowing them in an orange suitcase.
Among Ameen’s collection were fuzzy reproductions of his large family, including his seven siblings and godbrother. Their three-bedroom family home in Southwest Philadelphia was crammed with kids and dozens of pets, including a pitbull named Rat Boy and J.J. the iguana.
That didn’t stop Ameen from trying to rescue more abandoned animals off the street, and guilt his parents into taking them in. He carried kittens in his backpack worn backwards and lavished affection on anything with four legs, including the occasional ferret.
One time, Gwendolyn — who merely tolerated the household menagerie — put her foot down at the sight of a flea-ridden retriever mix, prompting inconsolable sobbing from Ameen on the front steps.
As the baby of the household, Ameen wasn’t accustomed to hearing the word, “no.” Born on August 23, 1993, he spent his first year of life in the hospital with severe asthma. His father, John Plummer Jr., took to praying, promising to surrender his vices in exchange for his son’s well-being.
After that, Ameen “always got what he wanted,” remembered his sister, Lucretia. “Whatever he says goes.”
Case in point: En route to Ameen’s elementary school, his parents would always buy him a cheeseburger and his beloved Pepsi (never Coke) for lunch. If the song, “How’s It Goin’ Down,” by DMX came on the radio, Gwendolyn would miss Ameen so much that she would pick him up early.
As one of the only two-parent households on their block, the Greer-Plummer clan felt safe, comfortable and lucky. Ameen shared his clothes and toys with his godbrother without argument, and the kids rarely complained about someone hogging the bathroom.
In 2007, everything changed. That year, Ameen’s older brother, Izim, was fatally shot in the head during an argument in Southwest Philadelphia. He was 19.
Five years later, Gwendolyn died of cancer. On January 30, 2021, the family also lost John to cancer.
Less than 24 hours after his father’s death, Ameen and his 28-year-old girlfriend were both shot before 7:15 a.m. at a gas station on the 800 block of East Washington Lane in Germantown. Ameen died but his girlfriend survived. Police have charged a suspect in connection with Ameen’s murder and a trial is scheduled to begin in March.
The shooting stemmed from an argument between Ameen and the suspect after the man had sideswiped the couple’s SUV, Lucretia said. Ameen is buried in Fernwood Cemetery with his brother, mother and father.
After her family suffered so much loss, Lucretia often wonders if Ameen would have been able to cope with the death of his father had his own life not been cut short. Up until the end, Ameen had difficulty processing his dad’s prognosis, she said.
“He always wanted to have control over the situation,” she continued. “He always wanted everything to be peachy keen.”
John raised the bar for all fathers, Lucretia recalled. He was reserved and patient, yet he never sugarcoated the consequences of causing trouble on the streets. He showed off his children at reunions in the West Philadelphia neighborhood where he grew up, and booked their doctors’ appointments well into adulthood.
Ameen expressed the same devotion for his own three children: Ky’Lee, Ameen Jr. and Khloe’Dior.
“He was trying to be the dad that my dad was,” Lucretia said. “He was always trying to be perfect.”
Growing up, Ameen appreciated the pulse of city life and spent as much time as possible outside, trying to ingratiate himself with his older siblings’ friends. Dinner was always on the table when he got home, and he and Lucretia enjoyed watching DVDs of underground rap artists. Ameen preferred local rappers, such as Meek Mill, and fully intended to join their ranks under the name “Meen Raw.”
Although he was of average build, Ameen was a voracious eater, balancing chicken on top of a turkey sandwich on top of macaroni and cheese on top of spaghetti — and throwing it all in the microwave.
He didn’t limit his adventures to culinary pursuits. As a pre-teen, Ameen sliced his leg open from his knee to his ankle climbing a railroad gate, even after his friend had his leg amputated from trying to scale the same gate.
Panicked and not ready to confront his parents, Ameen rushed to the home of his aunt, because she always wore scrubs. But she was a home health aide, not a nurse, so the aunt carried Ameen around the corner to his house, blood pooling on the pavement.
During high school, Ameen got mixed up in the streets and spent more than a year at a center for adjudicated youth on gun-related charges, his sister said. While there, he earned his diploma and received a certificate as a forklift operator.
After returning home, Ameen gained admission to The Art Institute of Philadelphia, but ended up working as a mover alongside his father.
He eventually got a job working as a security guard at McDonald’s to better provide for his girlfriend and their family in Olney. He saved up enough to buy his first car and took his kids on play dates to the park or at Chuck E. Cheese. Fatherhood had a calming influence on him, Lucretia said, and Ameen felt it was important to raise his kids in a two-parent household surrounded by family, just as he had grown up.
“There was a peace to him,” Lucretia said. “That is what he needed.”
Resources are available for people and communities that have endured gun violence in Philadelphia. Click here for more information.
