Josh Kruger, 39, was shot seven times at about 1:30 a.m. in his Philadephia home, reports the Associated Press, before collapsing in the street outside moments later. Police suspect someone who knew how to find him—no arrests have been made and no weapon recovered—and implied that it was a case of domestic violence: "police investigators recovered troubling text messages between Kruger and a former partner."
Kruger handled social media for the mayor and communications for the Office of Homeless Services from about 2016 to 2021. He left city government to focus on writing projects for news outlets and progressive causes.
He wrote at various times for Philadelphia Weekly, Philadelphia City Paper, The Philadelphia Inquirer and other publications, earning awards for his poignant and often humorous style.
On his website, he described himself as a "militant bicyclist" and "a proponent of the singular they, the Oxford comma, and pre-Elon Twitter."
Kruger's advocacy for LGBTQ+ and homeless people nonetheless raises suspicions of a targeted attack.
Josh returned to journalism a couple years ago intent on calling out those in power who are failing the hardest hit among us, who worry about language and optics, who are inefficient where efficiencies could save lives, who fret over things like property values rather than, as he said, someone's cousin's life.
