Posted on 11/22/2005 7:20:33 AM PST by ncountylee
PHILADELPHIA, Nov. 21 (UPI) -- An 18-year-old single father whose struggle raising his toddler daughter was featured in People magazine has been killed in Philadelphia.
Terrell Pough was shot in the head on his way home from work Thursday night and later died at Temple University Hospital, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported.
Police said they have no suspects but do have a possible lead. No further details of the slaying were released.
The August issue of People profiled Pough, who worked as the night manger at a local restaurant while attending school full-time and raising his daughter, Diamond, who will be 2 on Nov. 27.
"She's what I work for, what I live for, why I wake up," he told People. "She's everything."
Diamond, who had full-custody of his daughter, had planned to work in construction after graduating next June.
"If something ever happens to me, no one can ever tell her that her dad didn't take care of her," he told People.
Happened to read the Peoples article, and this is just terrible.
An eerie premonition...Almost like he knew he it was going to happen...
The August issue of People profiled Pough, who worked as the night manger at a local restaurant while attending school full-time and raising his daughter, Diamond, who will be 2 on Nov. 27.
What is a "night manger"?
What a stupid comment. Shallow and thoughtless.
SZ
Yep. Of course that raises doubts about his "work". Probably working with the drug trade.
City of Brotherly Love ping
I agree with Ninian. Why glorify these mistakes?
..he might even applied for and got a job as a proof reader for AP
Doogle
Give it a rest, you self-centered jerk.
May God comfort his family and bless this poor little girl.
How about we judge the kid on what he did after he made a mistake. "He who has no sin should cast the first stone". It sounds like this kid was probably a better father than alot of the ones who get married then have children. Get down off of your high horse. And what does any of this have to do with him getting shot in the head on his way home from work?
Perhaps the article itself made him a target? Do the inner city gangbangers read people?
Like where Jesus was born.
I agree with both of you. How about profile someone who did it the right way? My sympathies are with this child....and the cycle continues.
I take it you've never made mistakes? People who try to right the consequences of their mistakes, rather than blame them on others should be lauded, not criticized.
Because after he made a mistake, he took full responsibility for it and tried very hard to make up for it, going to school, working a job, taking care of his kid (where's Mom?) planning a good future. This is the type of person we should be applauding, not castigating.
Those type of spelling mistakes really irritate me. Our local news does it all the time and I just sit and shake my head. I think it is an example of the quality of education coming out of our schools.
He made a mistake, but he was man about it and did the right thing. He was working, going to school and trying to give his daughter the best life he could. I wish more young fathers would be this dedicated to their children.
There were six funerals of teenagers and children in Philadelphia last week, including Terrell Pough. Five were killed by gunshots, one died of asthma. The city has become a free-fire zone. There is an employee of the city school district whose job it is to console families of dead school children.
"His daughter would have been better off is he would have waited to conceive her after he had graduated from high school, got a steady job, and married her mother. There is a reason for the old fashion way of doing things. It works."
At least he was trying to do right by his daughter. So many young men in the inner city who find themselves in this situation either push the woman to murder the child, or just abandon the child all together. Sounds like this young man was taking care of his responsibility and really cared for his daughter.
Well said!
Very sad, sounds like the man was trying to make a difference in his life and his daughter's.
ahhhhh so it was a subliminal message linking this guy to Jesus. got it!
I know what a "night manager" is but had no idea what a "night manger" is. Apparently you did not catch the spelling mistake.
Aren't we all linked to Jesus?
So we should say it's a good thing a guy got a girl pregnant without being married and was killed while living in a neighborhood where these killings are all too common? Sorry - I much rather we promote doing it the "right" way. Yes, I've made mistakes but I wouldn't want my mistakes to serve as an example of what to do - it would be an example of what NOT to do. No one is perfect but I believe this just plays into the thought process that unwed parenthood is just fine and dandy. I'm not buying.
I agree, something about casting the first stone comes to mind. hmmm.
I couldn't agree with you more.
However, at that age most kids are totally
self-absorbed. And they live in a culture that
validates selfishness. For this kid to do the
right thing and put his daughter before himself
showed the emergence of real character on his part.
The gangbanger world of violence, blingbling,
casual sex, and drugs is lightyears opposite of going
to school, holding down a job, and being a good parent.
This kid had to have something going on if understood
that. God bless this young man and his child.
Why not wish they would wait until they were married and ready to become a parent, if you're wishing?
No I did not, did I.:-)
If the deceased's family were to read his post, I would agree. However, since the statistical likelyhood of that is so small, I do not think it was shallow and heartless.
The way God put forth in His Word, to raise a child is a much better way to do it.
While we are on the subject, why do we praise and write articles about people who make choices that were wrong, but live with them? I would much rather praise the person who makes the right choices despite all the pressures of society to do contrary.
Instead, they are denegraded. Called "goody two shoes", and scorned as "holier than thou".
So he deserved to die?
People make mistakes but this guy owned up to his and made the best of it. She is probably the best gift he ever recieved.
This is horribly sad.
Only if we choose to be.
And had he married the mother, kept a steady job (in which, it sounds like he already had)...how would this have prevented him from getting shot in the head on his way home from work?
Are you one of those people who feel that guns are the problem and should be taken away, and not the person behind the gun?
Yours was a very self centered, judgemental, and arrogant statement. Here, you may toss the first stone now.
Rather heartless aren't you?
I was so upset about this. The little girl is so adorable and precious. I hope her extended family can give her a good life.
How do you make the jump to "he deserved to die"? Gosh, that sounds like liberal spin to me.
That is almost exactly the same thing people said about the father of a buddy of mine.
It's not glorifying the mistake, it's showing how a young black man was working his A** off to make sure he wasn't one of the many statistics out there who are "mistakes" by abandoning his child.
Instead of always looking at the negative, acknowledge that he made a mistake, but was taking actions to turn his and his daughter's life into a positive.
Agree with Ninian all you want, kids make mistakes, at least this young "MAN" was trying to right the ship.
SZ
Oh, give me a break with that first stone crap...I am so sick of hearing that. Are we not supposed to call anything wrong? Is nothing evil? Is there not a difference between right and wrong?
I know in the liberal world there is not but where most conservatives live, there is a difference!
This is a sad story but he should have NEVER be lauded in People Magazine for making mistakes that will effect this child and society for a long time to come.
I pray this child finds a loving, two-parent, home to be raised in...
Just think if more people had spoken out in the past about this sort of thing being wrong....maybe it never would have happened...but then again someone, heaven forbid, might have had to call something wrong!!!!!!
There's just no pleasing the morally righteous and indignant, "holier than thou" types. This young man had the guts to do what too many people in poor areas won't do and that's be responsible for his actions. He didn't ask for your praise or approval, he did the right thing.
When you are in church this week feeling superior about yourself and your life be sure to ask the man upstairs what he thinks of your attitude.
It is great that he was trying to turn his life around but did he need to be lauded in People Magazine as someone to look up to? Can we not do better than that?
The old-fashioned way of doing things would be for the mother to abort the baby and disallowing the father to have any say-so.
Jerk.
My answer is in post 41
SZ
Everything is good and nothing should be called wrong? Is that what you are saying? Be honest now...you believe we should never judge and all is good.
Who needs enemies, when they have friends like you! You're all a real uplifting group! Perfect in every way!
I understand your point, but I prefer to be thankful that the little girl isn't another abortion statistic.
Yes, there are better ways of doing things but her parents chose life for her, and she was apparently much loved and cared for by her father.
At least she has a chance.
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