Anyone who knew Rashiek Austin knew that when they saw him, that goofball was going to be messing around.
“Anything he did was goofy,” said Sharita, the youngest of his there sisters. “All he did was make you laugh because he always had something funny to do or to say.”
Rashiek grew up in Nicetown with an extended family that kept everybody busy. He attended Gratz high school and held down many jobs during his life. His mother, Renee Austin, already passed, and his father, Gary Tucker, is away. He also left behind his girlfriend, Shareeda.
He grew up to be the life of the party and knew how to have a good time. He was always smiling and laughing, huge smiles that showed all his teeth, and he loved to eat. But he was most proud of being a father to five boys and three girls.
One thing he didn’t like was drama. If there was any kind of situation where two people were going through something, he would always try to step in to be the peacemaker.
If only someone else would have kept the peace on Aug 26, 2023. On 700 block of East Madison Street, someone shot him and two other people. The other two survived. Rashiek did not. He was 39.
His brother, Malik Austin, preceded him in death, another member of the family lost to gun violence. And to make it worse, it happened on the same block as where Rashiek was killed.
He was never the same after his brother died, said Sharita. Something shifted in him. Rashiek also had been looking forward to the release from prison of another brother, who had been incarcerated for about 20 years. But he didn’t get to spend time with him.
Sharita—who he always called Bighead, but with love—said Rashiek was the sibling that understood her. “He accepted me for who was, even if I was wrong he still would make me think I was right,” she said. “He always made me feel safe protected and secure.”
She remembered a time when she was 5 and he was a teenager. Her dad was incarcerated and Sharita wanted to write him a letter, so Rashiek helped. Then he put a dollar bill in the envelope and closed it. “Then we went and sent the letter off with no stamp or anything,” she remembered, laughing. “I thought that dollar was going somewhere but he was old enough so he knew.”
One thing his family remembers is that Rashiek had a major sweet tooth, said his girlfriend, Shared. “The only man I know that buying a 5th Avenue Bar.” He was also the one of the kindest men she ever knew, the kind of person who got to talking with anybody—even when Shareeda didn’t feel like talking. “I tell you when I wouldn’t speak to any neighbors this man would walk in and boom everyone outside talking to him,” she said. “He made people smile whenever he smiled.”
Another sister, who didn’t offer her name, said she’s struggling with her brother’s death and wishes he would have stayed working instead of getting mixed up in the streets. “It never gets easy,” she said. “I wish I could’ve protected him that day.”
Resources are available for people and communities that have endured gun violence in Philadelphia. Click here for more information.
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 this murder. Anonymous tips can be submitted by calling the Citizens Crime Commission at 215-546-TIPS or by CLICKING HERE TO FILL OUT this form.
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