The Bobster
Senior News Editor since 2004
http://www.nbc10.com/news/10504657/detail.html
City's Homicide Count Hits 384, Highest In 10 Years
POSTED: 3:32 pm EST December 10, 2006
UPDATED: 10:05 am EST December 11, 2006
PHILADELPHIA -- Four people struck by gunfire died Sunday, all of them falling on the nigger-infested streets of Kensington or West Kensington.
They bring the Philadelphia's homicide count for 2006 up to 384 -- the city's highest total in 10 years.
The latest shooting happened inside a home in the 3400 block of E Street, near Ontario Street, shortly after 12:30 p.m. Sunday.
Philadelphia Police said two 18-year-old men were shot in the head. One died at the scene, and the other after being rushed to a local hospital. The suspect fled the scene in a silver SUV.
"We're talking with several people who may have witnessed this incident, but we don't have any firm idea of who did this and how they made their escape," said Inspector Carl Holmes.
Another homicide was reported in Kensington on the 2600 block of North Third Street at about 4:15 a.m. Sunday.
Police said a nightclub dispute spilled into the streets and resulted in two men gunning at each other. One died, while the other is recovering from a gunshot to the earlobe.
"There was one guy on the floor with a puddle of blood," said Zenida Perez, who said she heard two gunshots, then several rapid shots in succession.
Of the rising homicide count and one of the latest occurring so close to her home, Perez said, "It's scary because I've been on this block for 20 years and I've never seen something like this."
Just after midnight, 30-year-old Sean Frazier died as a result of one bullet to the chest on the 2100 block of Elkhart Street in West Kensington. Police said the shooting appeared to be drug related.
"I was upstairs in a room, and I heard a gunshot," said neighbor David Preno, adding that his son heard the shots and was scared, too.
Other shootings this weekend in the city that were not fatal included a cabbie shot in the back during an attempted robbery. A suspect was apprehended after he got locked in the cab. :tongue:
And a man was in critical condition after being found in a car sprayed with bullets that ended up at Broad and Girard.
With three weeks left in the year, the homicide tally could top 400 for the first time since 1997. There were 418 killings that year, the last of eight years in the 1990s when there were 400 or more.
The total, however, remains far from the record of 500 set in 1990 during the city's crack epidemic, according to the police department's public affairs division. The department previously had reported that year's total as 525.
While the high murder rate in the 1990s was widely attributed to the crack epidemic, police, city officials and victims advocates say this year's shootings don't follow a simple pattern -- except that people are settling many disputes with guns.
"People are getting killed over nonsense, just for no reason," said Lisa Seals, 38, whose sister was fatally shot in August in West Philadelphia, allegedly by a neighbor who had a romantic interest in her. "It's not even about the drugs no more. These young kids are just losing their mind." (Why doesn't the term TNB come to mind?)
Many of the homicides have revolved around simple disputes, such as thefts and arguments.
Police and community activists have been frustrated that the killings have continued despite efforts to stop them.
Over the summer, city officials announced plans to hire 200 new police officers. The department also created a roving 46-member unit to be deployed on nights and weekends in high-crime areas. In addition, Street announced plans to install surveillance cameras in some neighborhoods, a move supported overwhelmingly by voters in the May primary.
The mayor has also come out in support of measures such as limiting gun purchases to one a month and allowing municipalities to enact their own gun control laws.
In the fall, the state Legislature spent three days discussing those proposals and others, but did not pass any bills. State Rep. Dwight Evans, who sponsored legislation that would have allowed municipalities to regulate handguns, said he thinks the session at least got people's attention.
Victims' groups said they are dismayed by the increased violence, but that they are not discouraged from their fight to solve the problem.
"It didn't get this way overnight and it's not going to be resolved overnight," said Dorothy Johnson-Speight, founder of the advocacy group Mothers In Charge. "While the numbers continue to climb, maybe if we weren't doing what we were doing the numbers would be even more."
Although it became certain early Sunday that the city had exceeded last year's homicide level of 380, the mark might have been reached sooner. Bodies are not always discovered right away and when they are, the deaths are often not ruled homicides until autopsies are conducted.
For example, a beheaded corpse was found Friday stuffed inside a trash bag, but investigators said the severe level of decomposition will make it difficult to determine how the person died.
City's Homicide Count Hits 384, Highest In 10 Years
POSTED: 3:32 pm EST December 10, 2006
UPDATED: 10:05 am EST December 11, 2006
PHILADELPHIA -- Four people struck by gunfire died Sunday, all of them falling on the nigger-infested streets of Kensington or West Kensington.
They bring the Philadelphia's homicide count for 2006 up to 384 -- the city's highest total in 10 years.
The latest shooting happened inside a home in the 3400 block of E Street, near Ontario Street, shortly after 12:30 p.m. Sunday.
Philadelphia Police said two 18-year-old men were shot in the head. One died at the scene, and the other after being rushed to a local hospital. The suspect fled the scene in a silver SUV.
"We're talking with several people who may have witnessed this incident, but we don't have any firm idea of who did this and how they made their escape," said Inspector Carl Holmes.
Another homicide was reported in Kensington on the 2600 block of North Third Street at about 4:15 a.m. Sunday.
Police said a nightclub dispute spilled into the streets and resulted in two men gunning at each other. One died, while the other is recovering from a gunshot to the earlobe.
"There was one guy on the floor with a puddle of blood," said Zenida Perez, who said she heard two gunshots, then several rapid shots in succession.
Of the rising homicide count and one of the latest occurring so close to her home, Perez said, "It's scary because I've been on this block for 20 years and I've never seen something like this."
Just after midnight, 30-year-old Sean Frazier died as a result of one bullet to the chest on the 2100 block of Elkhart Street in West Kensington. Police said the shooting appeared to be drug related.
"I was upstairs in a room, and I heard a gunshot," said neighbor David Preno, adding that his son heard the shots and was scared, too.
Other shootings this weekend in the city that were not fatal included a cabbie shot in the back during an attempted robbery. A suspect was apprehended after he got locked in the cab. :tongue:
And a man was in critical condition after being found in a car sprayed with bullets that ended up at Broad and Girard.
With three weeks left in the year, the homicide tally could top 400 for the first time since 1997. There were 418 killings that year, the last of eight years in the 1990s when there were 400 or more.
The total, however, remains far from the record of 500 set in 1990 during the city's crack epidemic, according to the police department's public affairs division. The department previously had reported that year's total as 525.
While the high murder rate in the 1990s was widely attributed to the crack epidemic, police, city officials and victims advocates say this year's shootings don't follow a simple pattern -- except that people are settling many disputes with guns.
"People are getting killed over nonsense, just for no reason," said Lisa Seals, 38, whose sister was fatally shot in August in West Philadelphia, allegedly by a neighbor who had a romantic interest in her. "It's not even about the drugs no more. These young kids are just losing their mind." (Why doesn't the term TNB come to mind?)
Many of the homicides have revolved around simple disputes, such as thefts and arguments.
Police and community activists have been frustrated that the killings have continued despite efforts to stop them.
Over the summer, city officials announced plans to hire 200 new police officers. The department also created a roving 46-member unit to be deployed on nights and weekends in high-crime areas. In addition, Street announced plans to install surveillance cameras in some neighborhoods, a move supported overwhelmingly by voters in the May primary.
The mayor has also come out in support of measures such as limiting gun purchases to one a month and allowing municipalities to enact their own gun control laws.
In the fall, the state Legislature spent three days discussing those proposals and others, but did not pass any bills. State Rep. Dwight Evans, who sponsored legislation that would have allowed municipalities to regulate handguns, said he thinks the session at least got people's attention.
Victims' groups said they are dismayed by the increased violence, but that they are not discouraged from their fight to solve the problem.
"It didn't get this way overnight and it's not going to be resolved overnight," said Dorothy Johnson-Speight, founder of the advocacy group Mothers In Charge. "While the numbers continue to climb, maybe if we weren't doing what we were doing the numbers would be even more."
Although it became certain early Sunday that the city had exceeded last year's homicide level of 380, the mark might have been reached sooner. Bodies are not always discovered right away and when they are, the deaths are often not ruled homicides until autopsies are conducted.
For example, a beheaded corpse was found Friday stuffed inside a trash bag, but investigators said the severe level of decomposition will make it difficult to determine how the person died.