Philly Police Officer Moses Walker Jr. murdered on his way home from work

Police in Philadelphia are searching for the gunman who shot and killed one of their own early Saturday morning.

Authorities say Officer Moses Walker Jr. had just finished his shift at the 22nd district at 17th Street and Montgomery Avenue, when he said shot to death on a North Philly street a few blocks from her police station.

The 19 year veteran, who was in street clothes, was found face down lying on his gun by fellow officers around 6:30 a.m. Saturday.  He was rushed to Hahnemann Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.  It is believed he was walking to a bus stop when he was murdered on Cecil B. Moore Street.

Forty-year old Walker, who was not married and had no children, was also a deacon at Deliverance Evangelist Church at 20^th and West Lehigh Avenue.

No  arrests have been made

Case updates: Mother sentenced, 2 men face trial

Mayor Michael Nutter says goodbye to fallen Philadelphia police officer Moses Walker Jr. during a viewing at Deliverance Evangelistic Church on August 26, 2012. (DAVID MAIALETTI / Staff Photographer)

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The two North Philadelphia men charged in the Aug. 18 killing of Philadelphia Police Officer Moses Walker Jr. have been held for trial on murder and others charges following a preliminary hearing Wednesday before Municipal Court Judge David C. Shuter.

Rafael Jones, 23, and Chancier McFarland, 19, are accused of shooting Walker, 40, during a predawn robbery in the 2000 block of Cecil B. Moore Avenue as the 19-year police veteran walked home after ending his shift as a turnkey at the 22d Police District.

Jones, a state parolee who absconded 10 days before Walker’s shooting, is the alleged gunman who shot the officer. McFarland, Jones’ alleged accomplice, is also suspected of participating in a series of strongarm robberies in North Philadelphia.

Both men now face a formal arraignment on the charges on Nov. 28 in Common  Pleas Court.

DRESSED IN black, the mother of slain Police Officer Moses Walker Jr. stood in front of her son's stainless-steel open casket for one final time Monday morning and screamed.

In front of more than 1,000 mourners at Deliverance Evangelistic Church, she jumped up and down, flanked by her daughter and a funeral director.

As the choir belted out "You are the Source of My Strength," some in the North Philly church, on Lehigh Avenue near 20th, stood and clapped.

Moses Walker's mother, Wayne Walker, then walked back to her front-row seat.

Romaine Gibbs, the head funeral director at the Cordoza Jacks Funeral Home, stood next to the officer's mother at the open casket, where her son lay in his dark-blue dress uniform, a cap and white gloves. Gibbs said afterward that Walker's mother was "hurting," but was "giving God praise for his life."

Walker's funeral service brought out city dignitaries and police brass. Walker's fellow 22nd District officers sat in one front-middle section, across an aisle from Walker's extended family. Law-enforcement from around the region, members of the Fire Department and many churchgoers also attended.

Walker, 40, a 19-year veteran, was off-duty when he was shot and killed on Aug. 18 shortly before 6 a.m. on Cecil B. Moore Avenue near 20th Street, allegedly by one of two men who tried to rob him.

Senior Pastor Glen Spaulding said that many may wonder "how the good could be taken so young, while the wicked" remain.

"In the city of Philadelphia, we're in trouble today," he said. "We have a generation that does not want to follow [the Lord]."

Mayor Nutter decried the violence and said that he was "very angry" about Walker's slaying. Of the two alleged killers, he proclaimed: "While those two are in custody, and here on this Earth, their butts are mine."

Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey said that Walker's badge, No. 2553, will be retired in tribute to the officer, who considered retiring next year.

Walker's cousin Traci Williams told those who gathered that she wore green, not black, to the service "because that's the color of life. I know Moses is still living."

William Walker, a brother, said that about 11 years ago the family lost another brother. But he noted that Moses was one to celebrate life.

"If I had to choose one quality, it would be his positive outlook," William said.

Walker had attended Deliverance Evangelistic for about a year after his church in Brewerytown, Unity Temple Worship Center, where he was a deacon, closed.

Pastor Anthony D. Little, from Unity Temple, said that Walker was the best man at his wedding.

"As my wife was coming down the aisle, he [Walker] said, 'Psst, Psst! I'm proud of you,' " Little recalled.

After the ceremony, Walker's body, escorted by police on motorcycles, was taken to Fernwood Cemetery, in Lansdowne, where he was buried.