Rashee “Shay” Ashley Chiverton couldn’t help but watch over those close to him, whether it be his own family or even any of the neighbors on his tight-knit block. Once, when a neighbor locked herself out, he climbed through her window to help her get back in.
“Most neighbors are elderly, and he made sure that there were no people standing on the corners, no riff raff,” said his mother, Cynthia Sawyer-Chiverton.
Rashee still lived across the street from her after having lived in the same part of North Philly since he was 9 when the family moved there from West Philly. His knew he was dedicated to the community, but she had no idea how much until his funeral. He helped keep young men on the straight and narrow after they came back from serving time in prison, mentoring them and providing advice. If they had a problem, they would come to him.
Many of them spoke about his help at his funeral. If it weren’t for him, Cynthia said, many of the men there said they would have gone back to jail. “Seeing men stand up and talk about my son that way really impacted me a lot.”
Despite all his help in the neighborhood, it wasn’t able to keep him safe. Rashee was shot in broad daylight on the 2900 block of Stillman Street in North Philadelphia on April 19, 2023. He was in a coma until he passed away on May 1 and was later buried in a plot near his son, Messiah Chiverton, who would have been 22 but was also cut down by gun violence in 2017 (read his story here).
Rashee’s maternal aunt, Vincenia Davis, most remembers Rashee grilling on his porch, keeping the block together, and protecting those that he felt needed to be protected, including his family members. He is survived by six of his seven children; from his oldest daughter, who is 21 to his youngest child, who is just a few months old. He was in a relationship with the mother of his youngest child when he was killed.
The weekend prior to being shot, Rashee was outside with his two younger boys, playing basketball. Rashee loved to play basketball and XBox games, which he played almost every night with his children. He dropped off and picked up his kids from school, and he was only ever a phone call away if they needed him.
Rashee adored every single one of his kids and prioritized spending quality time with all of them, playing basketball with them on the street–even after undergoing a knee replacement. His last born was his namesake, so he nicknamed him “Deuce.” In fact, he had affectionate nicknames for every one of his children, like “Judas,” “Shay,” “Princess” and “China doll.”
Rashee was proud of his daughter going to college because he never went. “He would always talk about how intelligent his daughters were,” Cynthia said. “That made him proud. He always wanted to see his kids do better than he did.”
Rashee spent quality time with his mother, too. If Cynthia ever asked him to do anything for her, he would. He put down carpet for her, he would take her trash out – he was always looking out for his mother.
Cynthia said that her dog, Buddy, was the only one he ever liked. Rashee fell in love with him right away. She said that right before he was shot, he was helping her out by taking her dog for a walk before she got ready for work. After she thanked him, he replied, “No problem, Mommy.” Those were the last words Cynthia heard from her son.
“We’re a close family, we talk a lot,” Vincenia said. “Even though I live in Charlotte, you would never know that I lived so far away. One day, on my way to work, just like normal, we were on the phone, and I heard the gunshots, and she went to see what was going on. I was concerned about his daughter because she would walk to my sister’s house. I remember her shouting for him to breathe. I just got in my car immediately and drove to Philadelphia.”
Rashee had funeral services of different faiths. Cynthia said, “I tried to honor what my son would want and that he was raised in a Christian church. [We had a] Muslim service at the funeral home.”
Rashee produced music with CNE Music Group and put the songs up on YouTube. “It’s great to have his music, where you can still hear him alive, hear him move,’ Vincenia said. “He will forever live on in that way.”
It was clear Rashee loved music when he combined that with another love, grilling. “He would dance around, shaking his little seasonings from the cabinet,” Cynthia said. When checking on his mother, he’d always be sure to ask, “Did you eat yet? Do you want something?”
His love of cooking started early, albeit not always to success. Cynthia remembered that he set her kitchen on fire and burnt her cabinets once when he was 12 years old trying to cook something. To this day, she doesn’t quite know how it happened.
She was mad then, but those memories are what keep him alive now. And it makes it that much harder to see firsthand how gun violence impacts entire families. “We gotta stop. We gotta do better with conflict resolution. Both times my family were shot, they were in an argument. We don’t teach our children conflict resolution, our schools don’t teach it – so what do they fall back on? What they see on TV, what they hear on the news, what they see in their neighborhood. It affects their children, it affects their families. It affects the other families, too. I’m not at the forgiveness [stage] yet, but this is crazy.”
If you have any tips that can solve this Unsolved Homicide, please contact The Philadelphia Homicide Unit at 215-686-TIPS with any information. The City of Philadelphia is offering an award of $20,000.
Resources are available for people and communities that have endured gun violence in Philadelphia. Click here for more information.
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