Screenshot photo of Army veteran Heather Rainey from Meachem & Prioleau Funeral Home, Inc. in Philadelphia. (Meachem & Prioleau Funeral Home, Inc. via Centre Daily Times)
(Tribune News Service) — A 21-year-old man has been charged with murder in the June shooting death of a 47-year-old mother and military veteran, Pennsylvania police said.
Heather Rainey was found by Philadelphia Housing Authority officers June 22 shortly after 10:30 p.m. lying in the street with a gunshot wound to her chest, according to a news release from the Philadelphia Police Department shared with McClatchy News.
She was taken to a hospital and pronounced dead shortly after, police said.
“She was a mother, she was a military veteran, she was a human being,” Rainey’s niece Charlisa Mcrae told WPVI.
“Heather was a great mother with a beautiful soul,” Rainey’s friend Shanell Sawyer said in an obituary tribute. “She found the best in any negative situation.”
Rainey’s 2017 Dodge Durango was at the scene with the engine running, a smashed window and her personal belongings scattered inside, police said.
An investigation identified 21-year-old Tysean Forsythe as a suspect in Rainey’s death, authorities said, and an arrest warrant was issued on a murder charge.
Police said they encountered Forsythe Dec. 11 while investigating a stolen vehicle.
“Recognizing his fugitive status, officers pursued Forsythe on foot and apprehended him without incident,” police said in the release.
Forsythe is charged with “murder, conspiracy, carjacking, robbery, and violations of the Uniform Firearms Act, among other related offense,” police said.
Court records show he was denied bail and is due back in court for a preliminary hearing Dec. 30. Attorney information for Forsythe was not available.
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