Patricia Williams still remembers the last day she spent with her son, Gerren Cream — the two told each other they loved one another, not knowing it would be their final goodbye. Just after midnight on March 4, 2023, Cream was shot and killed on the 4300 block of Lawndale Street in Philadelphia's Juniata Park section. More than three years later, his killer has never been arrested, and Williams is renewing her plea for anyone with information to come forward.
Cream, who was 29, died about 15 minutes after being shot, according to 6abc Philadelphia. He had no identification on him when officers arrived, which delayed efforts to notify his family — Williams says she only learned her son had been murdered after she filed a missing person's report on him. Initial police reporting from the night of the shooting, cited by FOX 29 Philadelphia, indicated Cream was walking through a rear alley with two other men when someone opened fire on him and fled.
Philadelphia Police Department records catalog the investigation under control number DC# 23-24-014234 and assign it to the department's 24th Police District, which covers portions of North and East Philadelphia including Juniata Park, per the city's unsolved murders database. Those same records list Cream as a resident of Everett Street in Camden, New Jersey, rather than Philadelphia — a detail that helps explain why his identification and family notification were delayed.
A Family Still Waiting, and Still Grieving
In a family reflection submitted to police and published on the city's unsolved homicides portal, Cream's relatives shared that he was the second of three sons and the third of five children, and that he left behind a son who was born after his death. The loss has compounded over time: Cream's father, George Edward Cream Jr., died in Camden last November at age 70, according to May Funeral Homes, never seeing his son's case resolved.
Williams has offered money in exchange for information and is now requesting an arrest or conviction in the case, saying she simply wants it to end. She has pleaded publicly for anyone who knows what happened that night to speak up. The City of Philadelphia has offered a $20,000 reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction, funded through a standing policy that automatically applies to open murder investigations across the city under Police Department Directive 8.13.
Tips Can Stay Anonymous
Anyone with information is asked to call the tip line at 215-546-TIPS, and calls will remain anonymous. The Philadelphia Police Department Homicide Unit also maintains a dedicated line, 215-686-3334, for information on open murder cases.
Cream's case sits within a broader pattern of unresolved violence in the same stretch of Juniata Park. In April, a 45-year-old man was fatally shot inside an SUV on the 4300 block of Malta Street — which runs parallel to Lawndale Street — before suspects tried to set the vehicle on fire, as Suspects Try to Burn SUV After Shooting detailed. That shooting, along with other gunfire reported in the neighborhood earlier this year, underscores how the area has continued to see violent incidents even as citywide numbers trend downward.
Clearance Rates Rise, But Cold Cases Linger
Philadelphia's overall homicide clearance rate climbed from a historic low of 41.8% in 2021 to over 80% in 2025 and 2026, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer, even as hundreds of cold cases from earlier years remain unresolved. Citywide homicides fell 24% by early August, with 103 killings recorded compared to 136 during the same period last year, per Philadelphia Police Department statistics. But for families like Williams', those broader improvements offer little comfort while cases like her son's remain open.
Cream's case remains active, and investigators have not named any suspects. Williams continues to wait, holding onto the memory of that last day with her son — a conversation that closed, without either of them knowing it, with an exchange of love.
