Homicide detectives said Eric Christmas was just being a Good Samaritan when he happened on a traffic accident before two thugs gunned him down and robbed him making Christmas one of Philadelphia’s 180 murder victims.

Police have made one arrest in the case, taking Desmond McMoore into custody shortly after Christmas was killed. McMoore’s alleged accomplice Rick Ramdeen remains at large. Both men have extensive criminal pasts.

Like many of the city’s murder victims Christmas had a police record.

But that doesn’t mean he did not have a wife and family who will miss him. That doesn’t mean his children won’t cry for their father. That doesn’t mean he deserved to be killed for a few dollars.

“We were married two years ago,” said Delilah McSeed, Christmas’ wife, with whom he had been with for 15 years. They have seven children. “I was at home waiting for him. I had just talked with him and he said he’d be home shortly. When he didn’t at first I didn’t think it was that deep. Then the police came to the house and asked me to come and identify the body since he had no identification on him. It was like I was moving in a dream. It didn’t seem real. I was just numb.”

Christmas, 37, was killed on the 5400 block of Baynton Street in the city’s Germantown section. According to homicide detectives, police officers from the 14th District received a report of a person with a gun in the vicinity of Baynton and Church Lane at 2:02 a.m. on June 5. When they arrived they found Christmas’ body bleeding face down on the street with gunshot wounds to the head and torso.

His shirt had been removed, his pants pulled down to his knees and the pockets were turned inside out. He was taken to Albert Einstein Medical Center where he was pronounced dead at 2:35 a.m.

This is not the first time tragedy has visited this family. In 2002 Christmas’ sister, Sherra Christmas said that her father and brother, Claude Evans and Keith Hampton were murdered on September 19.

Investigators questioned five witnesses that were able to identify McMoore as the alleged shooter. The names of the witnesses are being withheld by the Tribune.

According to police reports, two African American females were driving up Baynton Street in their Oldsmobile when an SUV crashed into the rear of their car.

The females told police that the male occupants of the SUV stopped and while they were exchanging information and waiting for police they observed a small white two door Chrysler Sebring drive up Church Lane.

Several minutes later, the witnesses saw the same car coming up Baynton Street and were able to see the two occupants. One witness said that she could see a handgun on the lap of the driver.

At that point, Christmas was walking past the accident scene. The female witnesses told police that they ran from the area and hid in a thicket of nearby bushes. Then they heard a series of gunshots.

The male witnesses told police that while waiting for police a guy in a white tee shirt [Christmas] walked by to see the accident.

“There was a guy in a white tee shirt who came by to see what was up,” the witness said. “And he walked up to the corner of Baynton and Church. A minute later the white car came back. The driver of the Sebring said ‘Don’t move.’ The driver of the Sebring then pointed the gun at me and I started to move. The driver of the Sebring then told the guy in the tee shirt not to move. I started to run. I got on the phone with the 911 operator and then heard shots. I waited and a minute later went back down the corner where I saw the guy in the tee shirt bleeding.”

Later that night Police Officers Maurice Alfano and Robert Blake of the 35th District were in the 1300 block of Lindley Avenue when they saw the white Chrysler Sebring. It had a missing windshield. Blake and Alfano followed the car to the 5100 block of N. 12th Street where they stopped it.

They reported that they saw the driver move forward and to his right. The driver of the Sebring, which was McMoore, told officers that his girlfriend had broken the windshield.

The officers asked McMoore to exit the car, which he did. They searched him for weapons and found nothing, but after searching the vehicle with their flashlights they saw the butt of a gun on the floorboard on the front passenger side.

McMoore was then placed under arrest. After a further search of the car the two officers found two cell phones and $241.00.

After reporting in, they learned about the shooting on Baynton Street and that a white Chrysler Sebring had been identified.

Police also believe that McMoore had an accomplice, identified as Rick Ramdeen who remains at large. McMoore has been charged with murder, robbery and related offenses.

“The police told me that they did arrest one of the people involved in my husband’s killing but I still don’t have any closure because the other guy is still out there,” McSeed said. “Yes, my husband did have some trouble with the police but he cared about me and our children and tried to do his best for us. Our seven year old daughter hasn’t lived at home since this happened, she stays with relatives. I think that’s the only good thing that happened, it’s made us a closer family. I miss Eric. He was my best friend.”