By the time he had reached middle school, Jamal Hunt was mature enough that his younger sister’s teachers would call him first when she got into trouble.
“He could hold up a family with his two hands,” remembered his sister, Jasmine, who was two years younger than Jamal but looked like his twin.
Born on March 21, 2001 and raised in the Germantown section of Philadelphia, Jamal didn’t always have Jasmine’s back. As a young boy, he used to body-slam her in solidarity with his WWE heroes, The Undertaker and The Rock.
The siblings roughhoused when practicing karate or playing football, but blew off steam choreographing hip-hop routines. Jamal also drew urban landscapes, sprawling mansions, and a still life of Air Jordans in permanent marker.
As Jamal got older, he stepped into the role of Jasmine’s protector, and the two became as tight as T’Challa and Shuri in the “Black Panther” superhero films, Jasmine said.
Jamal and Jasmine as children
Bullied as a child for having a clubfoot, Jamal refused to wear shorts. Yet he encouraged Jasmine to stand up for herself and not to be paralyzed by fear. During family vacations, he sprinted to the ocean while she sheepishly watched from the sand. He was perpetually chasing adrenaline on skis, dirt bikes, rollercoasters, and paintball playgrounds.
In the classroom, Jamal won the hardest-working student award at Sankofa Freedom Academy Charter School. He excelled in math and his teachers raved that he was one of the few students who asked thoughtful questions and was determined to learn.
While attending high school, Jamal worked his way up to become a manager of a Wendy’s in Rhawnhurst.
His mother, April Wood, initially worried that Jamal’s auditory processing disorder, which caused him to mix up sounds, would hold him back.
“I very much wanted him to do well in school so that he could take care of himself,” she said.
“He overcame everything, April continued. “He surpassed everyone’s expectations.”
After graduating West Catholic Preparatory High School, Jamal hoped to become a physical therapist for athletes. He was rejected from the military due to a basketball injury, which sidelined his plans to see the world.
Jamal enrolled in the Community College of Philadelphia, but dropped out and began training to become an electrician. He also worked late hours as a cook for a food service delivery company, slipping into April’s house after a shift to drop off her favorite chicken Alfredo.
His manager told April that Jamal was always polite, insisting on walking female colleagues to their cars late at night and never passing up overtime.
But the more he worked, the more Jamal realized that he wasn’t building a financial future. Surrounded by family members who had strong work ethics, including his grandmother, Zoe Wood, Jamal knew that the bar was set high. And he craved the lifestyle of multiple iPads, smartphones, and an all-red Alexander McQueen dress code, despite the risks involved, Jasmine said.
On July 14, 2022 just before midnight, Jamal was fatally shot on the 6800 block of Ditman Street in Tacony. He was 21 years old — still young enough to be hopeful that there was a way out of his current circumstances, by opening a vending machine business, rehabbing houses, or investing in the stock market. Police have not made any arrests.
April had given Jamal a financial management book a few years earlier, and he had set up budgets and saved to rent an apartment in North Philadelphia and purchase a car.
“He read it several times and it just changed his life,” April remembered.
Jamal valued family and was close to his father, Curtis Hunt; his brothers, Curtis Jr. and Jermani Burroughs; and his cousin, Jesia Hunt. He and Jasmine got matching tattoos of the eye of a wolf and he wore locks like his mother.
He also coached his nephew’s football team and treated his girlfriend’s son as his best buddy. He and April enjoyed the experience of going to movie taverns and watching sci-fi flicks like “Star Trek” and “Avatar.”
When a terrified Jasmine moved into Drexel University as a freshman, Jamal was there. Riding up on the elevator, he reassured her: “It’s okay to be scared but don’t let that keep you from what you can do.”
Later, he persuaded her to start her own hairstyling business and helped finance it.
“He would give me a lot of advice on how to grow up and how to move throughout the world,” she said.
“He was a serious soul, an old soul,” her mother added.
April chose to have Jamal cremated. She simply could not watch her eldest child being lowered into the ground.
“I really want to leave Philadelphia,” she said. “And when I leave, I want to take him with me.”
A reward of up to $20,000 if available to anyone that comes forward with information that leads to the arrest and conviction of the persons responsible for Jamal Hunt’s murder. Anonymous calls can be submitted by calling the Citizens Crime Commission at 215-546-TIPS. Information can also be submitted to the Philadelphia Police Department online or by calling 215-686-TIPS.
Resources are available for people and communities that have endured gun violence in Philadelphia. Click here for more information.
