Rodney Copeland could see all of his high school milestones on the horizon. He was 18 years old, a senior in high school and getting ready to plan for his future.
“He wanted to go to school, he wanted to graduate and was looking forward to going to prom,” Antoinette Garner, Rodney’s mother, said. “He wanted to be a psychiatrist.”
Rodney’s plans for a better future were halted on October 4, 2017. The teenager became the victim of a triple shooting in Grays Ferry.
“He wasn’t even an outside person,” Antoinette said. “He was always in the house with me.”
Unlike many teenagers, Rodney truly enjoyed going to school.
“He loved school. [His] favorite subjects were reading and math.”
If he wasn’t in working on his education, he was at home with his family and friends. Rodney loved music, citing Philly native Meek Mill as his favorite artist.
“All of his friends, they’d sit in the house, they rapped,” Antoinette remembered. “They loved music and loved to dance.”
Those closest to Rodney remember him as being “lovable and sociable.”
“He was funny. He just used to do a lot of stuff and crazy stuff that didn’t make sense sometimes.”
At the time of his death, Rodney was getting ready to become a father. His girlfriend is due to give birth to his son any day now this winter, giving the family a little piece of Rodney to hold onto.
“He just wanted to live life.”
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