Beatrice Makundu explained why her son joined the Marines.

“To die for this country,” she said. “But not to die on a Philadelphia street.”

Beatrice and her husband Steven Makundu are desperate for answers after their son Sam Makundu, 24, was shot and killed in Southwest Philadelphia.

“It’s so hard,” Beatrice Makundu said. “We miss him every minute. Every second.”

Sam Makundu, 24, of Upper Darby, Pennsylvania, was on the 5400 block of Paschall Avenue back on April 22 at 3:20 a.m. when he was shot in the face and chest by an unidentified gunman. He was taken to the Penn Presbyterian Medical Center where he later died from his injuries.

More than a week later, no arrests have been made and his family continues to mourn. Makundu had just returned from active duty in Louisiana at the end of March and was set to begin his security job at Temple University.

Makundu’s family told NBC10 he was with a woman at a lounge shortly before his death. They say he received a phone call and went outside holding hands with the woman when a gunman opened fire.

Makundu’s father, Steven Makundu, told NBC10 surveillance video shows a woman going through his clothes and searching for his cellphone after the shooting. He believes his son was set up but he’s unsure why he was targeted. It's also unclear whether the woman spotted on video going through his clothes is the same woman he left the lounge with.



“I think the killing of Sam was not done by one person,” Steven Makundu said. “It was a well, pre-planned plot. They knew it.”

If you have any information on the shooting, please call Philadelphia Police.

