INTRODUCING A NEW PODCAST: RICOCHET
PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Nikolette Rivera was clinging to her mother, Joan Ortiz, more than usual on Oct. 20, 2019. She wanted to be held all morning.
She clutched her mother tight and placed her head on her mother’s chest, right over her heart. Ortiz answered the door of her Kensington home with the 2-year-old in her arms. The next instant, she was gone.
A bullet from an assault rifle struck Nikolette in the head and instantly killed her — an innocent life taken in a city awash with guns.
Gun violence is a national crisis, but it has hit Philadelphia, America’s poorest big city, especially hard. In Philadelphia, more than 10,000 people have been shot in the last five years — 2,100 dead. It’s been the most violent time in the city’s history.
Ortiz loved Nikolette, her only daughter, with all her heart. The man who pulled the trigger, Tayvon Thomas , wasn’t as fortunate. Thomas was neglected and abused as a child. When he was 8 months old, his uncle put his head in boiling water in the bathtub. He suffered severe injuries and disfigurement. His mother nicknamed him “Freak.”