Even though they were a year apart, Anthony Molina and his sister Shanna were often mistaken as twins when they were kids.
“We were very, very close,” she said. “He was very protective of me.”
Anthony, whom everyone called Tony, was born in Philadelphia on Aug. 6, 1990, and grew up in Kensington. He and Shanna graduated from Jules E. Mastbaum Area Vocational Technical School together in 2008.
Tony pursued culinary arts and worked in restaurants, most recently at Cheesecake Factory in King of Prussia. He especially loved to cook Italian food.
Shanna recalled one time when Tony made chicken Alfredo — a lot of chicken Alfredo.
“He made so much that he handed it out to neighbors,” she said with a laugh. “That’s how he was — he was willing to give of himself. It was funny.”
They might have looked alike as children, but their personalities were different — while Shanna and their older brother Ozzie were more laid back, Tony had an outgoing personality that drew people to him.
“He was always smiling, always the one making jokes and making everybody laugh,” she said. “He made himself stand out. He wasn’t afraid to talk to anybody, and he was never afraid to show people who he was. He was loved by so many people.”
Tony met his girlfriend in 2010 when they were both working at Home Depot, Shanna said. They had discussed marriage, and Tony dreamed of having kids and buying a house with a yard. In the meantime, they lived together in an apartment at 84th Street and Lindbergh Boulevard.
This was the place where he was shot and killed on April 22, 2016.
He and his girlfriend had just returned from dinner and parked the car in the apartment complex parking lot. When Tony got out of the car, he was ambushed by a man with a gun. He was 25 years old.
Nothing was stolen, and his family has no explanation as to why Tony might have been targeted. No arrests have been made.
“When we had parties or family gatherings, he was the life of the party,” Shanna said. “He was always the one dancing, pulling the older women out to dance. They loved that. Now that he’s gone, it’s not the same anymore and we miss him dearly.”
Tony had an especially tight relationship with his mother; they talked every day. Now, some days she can’t get out of bed, Shanna said.
“The person who did this to my brother is out there enjoying life while my brother is six feet under,” she said. “My mom lost her son. A mother should never have to bury her son.”
When Tony died, he was an uncle to his siblings’ three kids, and he doted on them. Since he died, two more have been born. His oldest nephew, who is 11, has had a hard time adjusting to his uncle not being there anymore because he looked up to him as a father figure.
While Tony didn’t have a chance to have kids of his own, he did have a dog — a Shih Tzu named Buddy, who “had the exact same personality as him,” Shanna said.
In the two years since Tony’s death, his family has attended church to pray and light candles for him on April 22, then they visit the cemetery together.
And on his birthday, they release balloons. This year, they will release 28 of them to celebrate his 28th birthday.
The city of Philadelphia is offering up to $20,000 for information that leads to the arrest and conviction of the person responsible for Tony’s homicide. Anyone with information can call the Citizens Crime Commission at 215-546-TIPS. Callers can be anonymous.
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