Police identify man, 31, fatally shot in Center City early Monday

A 31-year-old man who had been celebrating Philly Pride weekend was fatally shot early Monday in Center City.

Derwin Matthews Jr., of the 1600 block of North 52nd Street, was shot in the stomach around 2:40 a.m. on the 200 block of South Camac Street, police said.

Matthews was transported by responding police to Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 6:20 a.m.

Deputy Commissioner Frank Vanore said there appeared to be a physical altercation between Matthews and an unknown male and then Matthews was shot.

“Derwin deserves justice,“ Jacen Bowman, president of Philly Black Pride, posted on Instagram.

In a phone interview, Bowman said that he had met Matthews a decade ago in the LGBTQ ballroom scene and that they had remained friends since then.

Matthews was a chef and showed off his cooking on his Instagram account, @chefdrizzyeats.

Bowman said he was leaving the Pride weekend events when he saw Matthews and they hugged and said goodbye to each other.

Later Monday, Bowman had just attended the unveiling of the TQ+ sculpture at the Cherry Street Pier when he received a text message that Matthews had been killed.

“He meant so much to so many of us,” Bowman wrote on Instagram. “He was love. He was joy. He was community. And he cannot become just another hashtag. Just another Black queer man taken too soon and forgotten while the case goes cold.

“If you know something say something. Say it to the police. Say it for Derwin. Say it so his family, friends, and our entire community don’t have to live with another wound that never heals,” Bowman wrote.

“We’re hurting. We’re grieving. We’re demanding justice,” Bowman wrote.