Amid tragedy of son's death: 'They felt our pain with us'

People told Wendy Swiger of West Virginia not to go to the spot where her son was fatally stabbed by a stranger. It's dangerous, they said. Southwest Philly is not safe.

But Swiger, 59, and her daughter went anyway.

On Thursday, with a bottle of the perfumed oil that Nathan Ackison once sold, his mother anointed the spot in the middle of the 5500 block of Baltimore Avenue where he had lost his life two days earlier.

Two men from the neighborhood - one of whom works at the garage near which Ackison was slain - stopped traffic on the busy street so the women could pour the oil and pray.

One of the men shared the story of losing his own son by drowning. The men brought the women to Ackison's car so they could go through his belongings.

"It was a very healing moment. They were so kind to us," Swiger said. "They weren't just sorry for us, they felt our pain with us."

For Swiger, the moment illustrated that God is good, even in tragedy.

"Love is healing, and that's what we saw today," she said. "This is what dispels evil in this world: love."

Ackison, 30, was one of three men allegedly stabbed at random by Ronald Stanley, 56, during a bizarre and apparently drug-fueled rampage Tuesday, police said. The other victims survived.

Ackison, who had followed a mechanic he'd just met to Baltimore Avenue so the man could examine his car's dragging exhaust pipe, was standing by the car when Stanley allegedly came up, spun him around, and stabbed him once in the chest.

In the car's passenger seat, Ackison's wife - who is due to have their child in August - looked on in horror as her husband stumbled into the middle of the street.

Swiger, of Fayetteville, W. Va., hadn't been in touch with her son in some time. He'd made some decisions she hadn't exactly agreed with, she said.

"He knows I love him, but I had to be a stern mother," she said.

Tuesday afternoon, Swiger wasn't feeling well. She lay down on her couch and looked at Facebook on her phone. The "On This Day" feature came up, showing her posts from the past. One was her favorite photo of her son.

She smiled. She thought about how stern she'd been with him lately and decided to text him the photo.

Ackison's wife texted back an alarming response from the scene: "Nathan's Been Stabbed."

"Please pray," she added.

Swiger's daughter, Laurel, rushed to her mother's house and the two made what Swiger called an eight-hour "pilgrimage" by car to Philadelphia.

Ackison was born near Winston-Salem, N.C., and moved with his family to Fayetteville when he was about 10. He was raised as a born-again Christian and obtained a business degree from Marshall University in Huntington, W. Va, his mother said.

Sometime after graduation, Ackison became a Muslim. Swiger said that she's not sure how Ackison came to the faith, but that Islam's rigidity appealed to him.

"It doesn't bother me that he's Muslim at all. It doesn't matter what flavor it is, if you love God purely, you're his," Swiger said. "It's about our heart, and my son had one of the purest hearts for God of any human being I've ever met."

But being a Muslim in West Virginia wasn't easy for Ackison. "He got beat up and brutalized for wearing Muslim garb," Swiger said.

About five years ago, Ackison moved to Philadelphia and fell in love with the city, his mother said.

"One of the reasons he loved it is because of the large Muslim population here," she said. "He was accepted."

Swiger attended her son's funeral Thursday at Masjid al-Madinah in Upper Darby.

She harbors no animosity toward his alleged killer.

"It's not about the man who stabbed my son. He's dust. He's an empty vessel. I'm not even angry at him," she said. "This is a gentle world for people who behave gently and it's a terrible world for people who hate."

farrs@phillynews.com

215-854-4225@FarFarrAway