The final tally of homicides for 2003 hit with the impact of a hollow-point bullet.
Compared to 2002’s total of 288 — the lowest number since 1985 — last year’s figure of 348 was bad news indeed, for it marked a 20-percent increase in the murder rate.
Every time reporters quizzed Commissioner Sylvester M. Johnson about the spike in homicides, he offered pretty much the same mantra: Simply comparing the 2003 figure to the previous year’s mark fails to take in a range of factors. He added there is little police can do to prevent most homicides since the majority of slayings occur indoors.
South Philly recorded 36 homicides in 2003 — five more than the previous year. The total for the Fourth District remained almost the same, and exactly the same for the Third and 17th districts. The First District had four more slayings this year. (See chart for district tallies.)
Homicide detective and Southwest Philly resident Carl Watkins is a 15-year veteran of the police force who spent most of his career in South Division.
Although he has worked his share of high-profile cases during his four years in Homicide, including the Lex Street massacre and the beating death of Fishtown teen Joey Sweeney, Watkins said 2003 was the division’s busiest year since he has been there.
"Crime is crazy today," said the detective, noting that slayings generally occurred at all hours of the day, not just the normally busy 4 p.m.-midnight shift.
Watkins has handled a number of high-profile South Philly cases, including the 2003 homicide of 3-year-old Porchia Bennett and the 2001 Halloween slaying of Adam Finelli, aka Adam Silver. Last fall, the detective’s testimony helped convict Billy Rinick in Finelli’s gangland-style shooting death.
The escalating murder rate is, in many ways, a sign of the times, Watkins suggested.
"Unemployment is the worst it’s been in our area in years. Robberies and murders are going hand in hand," he said.
As in previous years, handguns are still the weapon of choice, but 2003 had a "significant amount of stabbings," Watkins noted.
The year got off to an ominous start, with the first slaying of 2003 coming just a half-hour after midnight Jan. 1. Tony Binh, 37, from the 2700 block of Dudley Street, was shot in the head at Sunrise Dim Sum Restaurant at 636 Washington Ave. Two off-duty Bucks County deputy sheriffs who were working security at the restaurant arrested the alleged shooter, Tam C. Nguyen, 38, of the 900 block of Washington Avenue.
Before the month was out, another man would die after being shot in the head. Richard Johnson, 46, was found Jan. 18 at 9 p.m., on the 1400 block of South 24th Street, police said.
The cold weather might have put somewhat of a chill on the murder rate in January, but as 2003 progressed, so did the killing.
On Feb. 8, the Police Marine Unit fished the body of 30-year-old Anthony Harris out of the Schuylkill River in South Philly at 2:30 a.m. The Fairmount resident had been shot multiple times and beaten before being dumped into the water. Homicide detectives said an argument led to the slaying. Another spat allegedly sparked a fatal shooting just 24 hours later. Police found Ramone Randolph, of the 2700 block of Federal Street, inside a car on the 3300 block of Reed Street. Malik Bennitt, 20, from the 3100 block of Tasker Street, surrendered to police in Randolph’s death a week later.
The first day of March was marred by a teen’s death. Police discovered David Whiteman, 18, of the 1000 block of South Colorado Street, gunned down on the 1600 block of Montrose Street at 6:15 p.m.
On March 17, a blaze of gunfire claimed 21-year-old Quaron Edwards, of the 2100 block of Taney Terrace. The shooters sprayed 15 bullets into a crowd at 28th and Jackson. Police didn’t know whether the victim was the intended target.
A March 21 shooting victim lived just long enough to tell police that two males ambushed him at 11 a.m. outside his home on the 1500 block of South Lambert Street. The 18-year-old made it as far as his doorway, and died soon after at the hospital.
Gunmen fired at three people as the victims left the Crab House at 21st and Titan streets on April 6. Biheis Moore, 20, of the 1000 block of South Bouvier Street, suffered fatal wounds, while one of the two women with him was shot in her thigh.
Breaking the pattern of slayings by gunfire, a woman was found stabbed to death inside a vacant Grays Ferry home on April 16 at 6:30 a.m. Investigators said the victim had been slain outside and then dragged inside the home on the 2800 block of Latona Street. The next week, police identified the victim as Lisa Laws, 35, from the 2700 block of Latona.
The South Philly homicide rate slowed in May and June, only to return with a vengeance in July.
There were a couple of late-spring shooting deaths. In mid-May, bullets claimed the 21-year-old son of a First District police sergeant. A drive-by shooter fired at Elijah Williams, of the 2300 block of Tasker Street, around 9:30 a.m. The victim was inside his car just a couple of blocks from home.
Isaac Young, 45, of the 2700 block of North Gratz Street, died from a gunshot wound to the chest June 20, but there was something more to this case. Investigators said the victim, found on the 2600 block of Jackson Street shortly before 2:30 a.m., also suffered a mysterious head wound of unknown origin.
The first homicide of July was the result of a June 22 shooting. The victim, 18-year-old Jarell Henderson, of the 800 block of South Eighth Street, died of his injuries at HUP on July 10. The bullet that ripped through Henderson also struck his 19-year-old friend in the arm on the 1100 block of Montrose Street. Investigators said the incident was the culmination of a feud between the victims and a rival neighborhood gang.
A disturbing citywide trend of violence against Asian shop owners began locally July 13. Two masked robbers barged into Jade Express at 1601 Wharton St. at 4:40 a.m. and gunned down the owner, Dayu Yee.
Like the first stabbing death of the year back in April, the second — on July 21 — also occurred in Grays Ferry. Patricia Lynch’s ex-husband discovered her body inside her home on the 2800 block of Winton Street at 10 a.m. She had been knifed several times in the neck. The victim’s boyfriend, David Cullen, 49, from the 2600 block of Gerritt Street, was charged with her murder.
A week later in Grays Ferry, 20-year-old Alonzo Brown was cut down in a hail of bullets. The victim was found slumped over the landing outside his home on the 2200 block of Reed Street at 5 a.m. The murder weapon, a black revolver, was found by a construction worker the next day in an alley behind a locked fence on the 1300 block of South 23rd Street.
South Philly’s only alleged drunken-driving death occurred the same day at 11 p.m. at Reed Street and Columbus Boulevard. Shawn Burrows, 27, of Mt. Airy, died at the scene. Damen T. Robinson, of the 2000 block of South Eighth Street, faced charges for slamming into Burrows after allegedly running several red lights.
Another stabbing death was reported Aug. 3 after a concerned neighbor found Willie Clark, 65, inside his home on the 2100 block of Cross Street. Investigators found the murder weapon next to his body.
The next day at 10:45 a.m., a single bullet to the chest snuffed out the life of a 23-year-old, police said. Sacovb Franklin, from the 8000 block of Chelwyn Avenue, died at HUP a half-hour later. Police had found him on the 2000 block of South 22nd Street.
The stabbing trend continued Aug. 8, when a 21-year-old woman was arrested for the death of her longtime boyfriend, Lamar Merion, also 21, of the 2100 block of Taney Terrace. Police said Latanya Denny, of the 2100 block of Bailey Terrace, stabbed her lover in the chest with a kitchen knife during a 12:30 p.m. argument. Neighbors told police fights between the pair were common over the course of their six-year relationship. The homicide marked the first of the year involving a domestic dispute.
On Aug. 14, a drive-by shooter fired at a 26-year-old man as he sat on the steps of a home on the 2500 block of Tasker Street at 8:15 p.m. Naim Sadat, of the 1900 block of Point Breeze Avenue, died from multiple gunshot wounds.
One of the most shocking murders in the city last year was the death of 3-year-old Porchia Bennett, allegedly at the hands of her two caregivers — Candice Geiger, 18, and Geiger’s boyfriend, Jerry Chambers, 32.
Around 1:10 p.m. on Aug. 17, Geiger called police after finding Porchia’s battered body wedged between a mattress and bedroom wall inside the couple’s home at 1705 S. Fifth St.
Investigators also found Porchia’s three sisters inside the home — the 10-year-old so badly beaten she had to be rushed to Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. A week later, Porchia’s mother, Tiffany Bennett, 27, surrendered to police and was charged with four counts of child endangerment for leaving the children in the suspects’ care. The case launched a call for changes in the Department of Human Services.
Yet another child was lost Sept. 7 when Khynief Hatchett took a bullet in the head that police said was intended for his father. The 8-year-old third-grader at Columbus Charter School was shot while riding in the back of his father’s SUV around 9:30 p.m. on the 1600 block of Catharine Street. Hatchett died at HUP eight days later. Hundreds attended a candlelight vigil at the school to honor the victim.
On Sept. 14, police responding to a report of gunfire at 4 a.m. on the 1700 block of South 18th Street found Leroy Reddick, 58, with deadly bullet wounds to his face and upper torso. Investigators found narcotics on the victim, who lived a few blocks away, and five .45-caliber shells at the scene.
That same night at 9:15, three men in a car gunned down Lorenzo Britt, 19, of the 2000 block of Gerritt Street, and his 18-year-old friend. The victims were both on bicycles at the corner of Sixth and Mercy. Britt died and his friend was wounded in the incident, which detectives believed was sparked by an earlier neighborhood dispute.
Much of October remained homicide-free, but that changed on Oct. 22. First District police found John J. Jewell, 22, on the 2700 block of Snyder Avenue with a gunshot wound to the chest. The victim lived on the 2900 block of Reed Street and was killed minutes after midnight.
On Mischief Night, Oct. 30, a 16-year-old was charged with the fatal shooting of another teen. Keith Lovett, 17, from the 1000 block of South 25th Street, was standing on the 900 block of South Bonsall Street around 11:30 p.m. when the killer rode by on his bike and unloaded several shots, police said. The suspect then got off his bike and allegedly continued firing into the victim.
November was the deadliest month of 2003. The violent burst included two double shootings, a triple shooting and a stabbing.
Antoine Kellam, 18, of the 1800 block of South 24th Street, died at HUP after taking four bullets in the back on Nov. 9. His 15-year-old friend was treated for a gunshot wound to his right leg after the 10:15 p.m. incident on the 1600 block of Etting Street.
An argument ignited gunfire on the 2100 block of South Sixth Street, killing one and wounding two on Nov. 16. Perry Brewington, 22, of the 2100 block of South Sixth, died of multiple gunshot wounds. His 19-year-old girlfriend was critically wounded in the shooting while a 17-year-old innocent bystander took a bullet in the leg.
Also that Sunday, a 20-year-old was stabbed in the neck inside Wolf Street Caf� at 1638 Wolf St. Joseph Briglia, from the 2000 block of Shunk Street, was the victim; Jason McMaster, 32, of the 2000 block of Emily Street, was charged with his murder.
An apparent mob hit was carried out Nov. 22 on John "Johnny Gongs" Casasanto. The 35-year-old was found shot to death inside the kitchen of his home on the 1200 block of Durfor Street.
November ended with the double homicide of a young couple on the 300 block of Winton Street. Natasha Dove, 19, and her boyfriend Dana Taylor, 21, were gunned down around 11 p.m. on Nov. 25. Both lived in the neighborhood.
Also on the 25th, in one of the more macabre murders of the year, police found the charred body of a 39-year-old inside his truck on the 1900 block of South 24th Street. Allen Rice, of the 700 block of North 64th Street, had been shot in the head before his truck was torched.
The last month of the year ended just like the first day of the year began — with a barrage of bullets.
Two armed robbers stole the life of Cambodian college student Luckily Ky, 19, after he walked in on a holdup of his parents’ grocery store. The gunmen walked away empty-handed from New Market, 17th and Moore streets.
Another victim was found as a result of a Dec. 20 arson, but police determined the man died of asphyxiation and multiple head injuries before the killer torched his house at 1813 Bainbridge St. The victim was later identified as Paul Nelson, 39.
Also on Dec. 20, Omar Gray, 23, of the 2300 block of Mifflin Street, was working on his car when a man got out of his vehicle and unloaded multiple shots before driving off. Emergency surgery couldn’t save Gray, who became the last South Philly homicide victim of 2003.
