Eric Woods was born on Christmas Day in 1987. His mother, Monique Irvis, said he felt like the holiday overshadowed his birthday, so every year she had a separate celebration to make him feel special.
She pictured his 21st birthday, and his 30th — she planned to have bigger parties for him to mark these milestones.
But she would never get the chance. Eric was shot and killed on Aug. 1, 2007 after playing in a neighborhood basketball game in Southwest Philadelphia. He was 19 years old.
Monique, who works for the School District of Philadelphia as a special education classroom aide, has another son and a daughter, and Eric was the middle child.
As a kid, he loved to dance — Monique has a video of him dancing when he was about 5 years old that she cherishes.
“To see that video of him dancing, and hearing the voices — oh my God, it’s so cute,” she said. “It makes me feel like I’m looking at him again.”
Eric was a good student and graduated from John Bartram High School in 2005. During high school he worked at Wendy’s and Giant, and at the time of his death he was working as a security guard on the University of Pennsylvania campus.
He always had a positive attitude no matter what, Monique said.
“Eric was very sweet, very kind. He had a heart of gold. He was very helpful,” she said. “He was always smiling.”
In the years since his death, Monique has reflected on her son’s life and she realized that things were not easy for him.
“I just feel like my son had it rough ever since he was born,” she said. “I had a rough pregnancy with him, he got jumped a couple times, people would just pick with him for no apparent reason. He was asthmatic and he was always sickly. He had it rough, and then someone takes his life.”
“But he was still a sweet kid regardless,” she added.
One of his joys in life was basketball, which he was playing shortly before he was killed. Monique later found out he was coaching some kids in basketball in Upper Darby, where they lived for a short time.
She often thinks about what Eric would be like if he were still alive. He’d be 31, and she imagines he’d be living on his own, working, married, and maybe have two kids.
“He didn’t get the chance to do anything,” Monique said. “Somebody ripped everything from him.”
Monique said she still hears from people who share stories about him.
“He touched a lot of lives. I really didn’t know he reached that many people,” Monique said. “As far as family, we knew the type of person he was. But to hear from people who don’t know me but knew him, it’s all been, ‘What a beautiful kid you raised.’”
“I feel blessed that he was the person he was,” she said. “He was just a lovable guy.”
Eric was laid to rest at Fernwood Cemetery.
No arrests have been made in connection to Eric’s murder. The City of Philadelphia is offering up to $20,000 in reward money for the arrest and conviction of the person responsible. Anyone with information is asked to call the Citizens Crime Commission at 215-546-TIPS. All calls will remain anonymous.
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