When Quantico Mareno Brunson pictured his future, he saw himself playing football for the Temple Owls, becoming an engineer and building things.
“He always said he wanted to build schools and houses,” his mother Shantice Wideman said. “He wanted to build a big old house with 15 rooms so all of my family can be there.”
At 17 years old, Quantico, who went by the nickname Reno, was homeschooled and worked at Wendy’s on Cottman Avenue, not far from his family’s home in the Mayfair section of Philadelphia.
On the evening of Oct. 10, 2016, Quantico and several other people were walking in the area of Hawthorne and Stirling streets when shots were fired. Quantico was fatally wounded. A 16-year-old and a 21-year-old were also shot, but survived.
Surveillance video shows a white sedan pulling up a short distance away just before the shooting. A man dressed in all black gets out of the passenger side, then a few moments later, he runs back to the car.
Police found a revolver and a shoe believed to belong to the shooter at the scene, but more than three years later, Quantico’s murder remains unsolved.
Shantice now has a sorrowful task built into her daily routine. Every morning, she walks to the spot on the sidewalk where Quantico was shot, around the corner from her house.
“I get up and I touch the spot on the sidewalk and I say, ‘Good morning, son. I love you. Watch over us,’” she said.
The oldest of five children, Quantico was born March 19, 1999 in South Carolina. Shantice was young when she had him, and they grew up together. They moved to Philadelphia in 2006, when Quantico was about 7.
Quantico was a free spirit who was upbeat and optimistic. He didn’t like to see anyone sad, so he’d do his best to cheer up his loved ones.
Fatima Stills is Quantico’s god sister, and she saw him a few days before he passed. He insisted on taking pictures together that day.
“We took so many pictures,” she said. “I look at them every day, all the time.”
Shantice wants her son to be remembered for his smile and for his helpful nature. She heard about many kind things Quantico did that she had not known about—carrying groceries for elderly neighbors and walking dogs—and he refused when he was offered money.
“I had a lot of grown people come up to me, my mom and my husband saying, ‘Your son is amazing. His heart is amazing.’ They said he did this for me and that for me, and I didn’t even know these people.”
Quantico would have turned 21 years old this week.
He is laid to rest at Chelten Hills Cemetery.
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 person responsible for Quantico’s murder. Anonymous tips can be submitted by calling the Citizens Crime Commission at 215-546-TIPS.
Date: 2016-10-10
Location: 3100 Stirling St, Philadelphia, PA
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