When Shawn Bonaparte was a student at Tanner Duckrey School in North Philadelphia, a commissioner of the Philadelphia Police Department took him under his wing.
Shawn was chosen for the program because when he was 4, and his father had been sentenced to life in prison.
“That played a major role in Shawn’s life,” his mother Rasheeda Bonaparte said. “He was really close with his father and had a great relationship with him.”
The officer would spend time with Shawn twice a week, doing things like taking him out to lunch and touring the city jail, and encouraging him to be a good example for his younger brothers and sisters.
After that, though, Shawn ended up going to placement as a juvenile.
“He was having bad behavior in school, and they didn’t want to place him, I did, because I was trying to save my son,” Rasheeda said. “I didn’t want what happened to him to happen.”
As he got older, Shawn started to head down the wrong path, but during the summer of 2016, things were improving for him. He was studying to be a Jehovah’s Witness and attending daily church meetings, and he was also getting up early every morning to see about jobs. He shared an apartment with his girlfriend of nine years and their daughter, Saniyah, who was 5 at the time. Rasheeda said her son was headed in the right direction.
“He said, ‘Mom I’m going to keep on doing the right thing. I promise you this time I’m not going to worry you,’” Rasheeda said.
Not long after that, on the afternoon of July 21, 2016, Shawn tried to break up a fight between two women in Kensington, and a man shot and killed him. Shawn was 22 years old.
Saniyah
The shooting was caught on tape and the witnesses came forward; as a result, the gunman was arrested the same day and charged with Shawn’s murder.
“He was doing so good,” Rasheeda said. “Shawn was a good hearted person. It hurts me that my baby was taken away from me for breaking up a fight when he was trying so hard. He was wanting to do the right thing because of his daughter.”
Shawn was born March 19, 1994 in Philadelphia and raised at 16th and Diamond in North Philadelphia. He was Rasheeda’s first child, and they had a tight relationship from the start.
Rasheeda’s mother babysat Shawn while she worked, and she taught him to walk at 10 months. Her mother also gave him the nickname “Boobie,” which stuck.
When Shawn became a father himself, he caught on to his new role right away because he watched Rasheeda raise his siblings. He took care of Saniyah while his girlfriend was at work, and Rasheeda said that because his father wasn’t around for most of his life, he made sure to be a good father to her.
In fact, his whole family was important to Shawn. He had a close bond with his uncle Dwayne as well as his brothers and sisters and cousins, and a few days before his murder, Shawn attended a family reunion.
Rasheeda wasn’t up to attending herself, despite Shawn urging her to go. In the car as she dropped him off, he said, “‘Get out of the car, bald head,’ because I always wear my hair short,” Rasheeda said. “He really wanted me to go.”
Losing Shawn took a toll on the whole family, and they’re still trying to make sense of it.
“It really damaged us, especially me,” Rasheeda said. “He was my first child. We grew up together. Shawn was a family person, and he also loved his friends. If they needed help, he was there. He was a good person with a good heart, he was a good father and a good son.”
Shawn is laid to rest at Friends Southwestern Burial Ground in Upper Darby. In addition to his mother, he is also survived by his siblings Tyshea, Rasheed, Nafis, Naheim, Rakiyah and Semaj.
Shawn was good friends with James “JJay” Kennedy, who was also a victim of gun violence. He was killed Aug. 9, 2017. Read about JJay here.
