A drive-by shooter gunned down a 21-year-old male Monday on the 1900 block of South 21st Street, police said.
The victim, a resident of the 2000 block of South Opal Street, was walking to his car with another man around 2:30 a.m. when a red or maroon Honda pulled up to the pair, said Lt. Joe Maum of the Homicide Unit.
Someone inside the car shot the victim in the chest, Maum said. The young man was rushed to the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, where he was pronounced dead.
Homicide detectives have no suspects and are trying to find the victim’s friend as well as the Honda, said Maum.
To report information, call the Homicide Unit at 215-686-3334/35/36.
Man survives multiple shots
A 23-year-old man remains in critical condition after being shot in the stomach, back, buttocks and right leg Saturday, said police.
Seventeenth District officers found Naim Clark at 1:15 a.m. on a second-floor bedroom in a home on the 1500 block of South 29th Street, said Sgt. Steve Biello of South Detective Division.
The victim, who lives on the 1800 block of Mountain Street, was taken to HUP, where he remained earlier this week.
Police said Clark has been uncooperative, but an investigation is ongoing.
To report information, call South Detectives at 215-686-3013.
Prisoner hangs himself
A 41-year-old prison inmate committed suicide last week by hanging himself, officials said.
An autopsy performed Aug. 6 on William E. "Fats" Gaines, formerly of 21st Street near Earp, confirmed the cause of death, said Health Department spokesperson Jeff Moran.
Two days earlier, Gaines tied a bed sheet to his bunk and hanged himself in the Federal Detention Center at Seventh and Arch streets, officials said.
Gaines had been awaiting trial with three codefendants for allegedly conspiring to rob $19,554 from the Sun East Federal Credit Union in Boothwyn, Delaware County, in May 2001.
Arrested after police chase
It might have looked like something out of a movie last Thursday when police pursued a suspect in a van through the streets of South Philly. Before it was all over, the suspect crashed into an elderly driver’s car and a police cruiser, authorities said.
Police arrested Robert Taylor, 23, of the 1100 block of South Cleveland Street, and charged him with aggravated assault, weapons offenses and other violations, said Sgt. Steve Biello of South Detectives.
It all started around 5:50 p.m., when 17th District police received a report of a male firing a gun on the 1100 block of South 16th Street, said Biello.
When officers arrived, the suspect fled in a silver and burgundy van. Plainclothes officers, who spotted the van heading west on Washington Avenue from Broad Street, called for a marked police car to continue the pursuit, said the sergeant. Officers tailed the van to the 2100 block of South 15th Street, where police allegedly spotted the suspect throwing an extended magazine clip from the window.
At that point, the man crashed into the rear of a 2002 Chevy occupied by a 75-year-old man, his 97-year-old mother and another 75-year-old woman, said Biello. The elderly victims sustained minor injuries, the sergeant added.
The suspect then put his van into reverse and rammed into a police car, disabling it. He quickly jumped out of the van, discarding a semiautomatic handgun as he did, police said.
Officers pursued the suspect and finally got their man on the 2100 block of Mole Street, said Biello.
Car stalls crime spree
After robbing three people at gunpoint Monday, a pair of bandits tried to make their getaway in one of two vehicles they carjacked in Upper Darby over the weekend. Unfortunately for them, though, the car wouldn’t start, police said.
At 2:25 a.m., the robbers cornered two females, 33 and 29, and a 34-year-old man as they were getting into a car on Fifth Street just off South, said Sgt. Steve Biello of South Detectives.
After both the women handed over their purses, the robbers attempted to escape in their stolen Cadillac. Finding the car wouldn’t start, the down-on-their-luck bandits fled on foot north on Sixth Street from Lombard, said Biello. Along the way, the culprits discarded the stolen pocketbooks, but kept the $53 they found inside, the sergeant added.
South Detectives, along with Upper Darby police, are conducting an investigation into the carjackings.
To report information, call South Detectives at 215-686-3013. SPR
Held up in Queen Village
Two males who claimed they had a gun approached three men walking on the 400 block of Monroe Street last Thursday and robbed one of the victims, police said.
After swiping $60 from the man at 10:50 p.m., the culprits fled in an aqua Maxima or Infiniti. To report information, call South Detectives at 215-686-3013.
