Antonio McKenzie, 37

At 12:02 am, police found Antonio McKenzie, a 37-year-old black male, shot once in the neck and once in the face, near his home on the 4000 block on Popular Street. McKenzie was pronounced dead at the scene at 12:12 am. Police have no motive or arrest.

The city's body count for 2008: 48

Ismael Valentin, 27

On Feb. 9th police received a radio call about a trespasser using drugs in the hallway of an apartment building located at 7400 Roosevelt Blvd. Police then received a second call of shots fired at the same location. When police arrived they found Ismael Valentin, a 27-year-old white male, lying on the street with multiple gunshot wounds. Valentin was pronounced dead at the scene at 4:24 pm. Police originally believed that the apartment manager shot Valentin in self-defense, but on Feb. 26 the shooting death was upgraded to a homicide.

The city's body count for 2008: 47

Stevee Charles, 24

Last night at 9:20 pm, police found Stevee Charles, a 24-year-0ld black male, sitting in his car near his home, located on the 7500 block of Thouron Street. Police say Charles had been shot multiple times in his head, neck and chest area. He was pronounced dead at the scene at 9:52 pm.

Police have no motive or arrest.

The city's body count for 2008: 46.

Teven Rutledge, 16

On his 15th birthday, Teven Rutledge died over a snowball.

On Sunday afternoon police say Rutledge and his teenage friend were having a snowball fight in their Feltonville neighborhood, 4800 D Street, when they hit a passerby. The passerby reportedly argued with the boys and warned them he’d be back. He later returned with a gun and shot Rutledge in the face.

Rutledge was transported to Temple University Hospital where he was placed on life support.

He died this morning at 11:34 am.

Update:
On Feb. 27, police issued a warrant for Jose Mendez, aka Omar, in the shooting death of Teven Rutledge. Mendez is a 24-year-old Hispanic male, 5'9, weighing 165 pounds, with brown hair and brown eyes. His last known address is 435 E. Eleanor Street and 3021 Water Street. Police consider him armed and dangerous.








Update:
On March 1, police were flagged down and told that the man who shot the kid with the snowball was inside an apartment on 4600 Adams Avenue. Mendez was arrested inside the apartment.

(Photo credit: Mendez provided by Philadelphia Police Department)

Dontea Hart, 20

On Feb. 24, at 6:50 pm, police responded to a radio call of gunshots at 31st and Berks. When they arrived, they found 20-year-old Dontea Hart, a black male, lying on the street with multiple gunshot wounds to his body and face. Hart, from the 2100 block of North Corlies Street, was transported to Temple University Hospital where he was pronounced dead at 7:10 pm.

Police also found a second victim suffering multiple gunshot wounds. The victim is currently listed in stable condition. Police say an unidentified assailant shot the two men.

The city’s body count for 2008: 43

Mark Rivera, 16

On Feb. 23 at 12:45 pm police found Mark Rivera, a 16-year-old Hispanic male, lying on the corner of 3600 N. 7th Street with multiple gunshot wounds to his head and chest. Rivera was pronounced dead at Temple University Hospital at 12:45 pm. He was from the 600 block of West Venago.

Update:
Police issued a warrant for David Ramirez, 17-year-old Hispanic male, on Feb. 25. in the shooting death of Mark Rivera. Police say Ramirez shot Rivera over a petty argument. Ramirez is 5'5 and weighs 120 pounds. He has brown hair and brown eyes. His last known address is 3529 N. 8th Street. Police consider him armed and dangerous.

Update:
David Ramirez turned himself in to police on Feb. 26. without incident. He was charged with murder and related offenses in Rivera's shooting death.

(Photo credit: David Ramirez from the Philadelphia Police Department)

5 Dead in 8 Hours

On Wednesday, Feb. 20:
4:34 pm, 3800 Cambridge
Police responded to a call about a disturbance. A neighbor lead them to the third floor apartment where they found the body of Josephine Faust, a 29-year-old black female suffering from multiple stab wounds. Faust was pronounced dead at the scene at 5:40 pm.

5:27 pm, 7802 Temple Road
Police responded to a radio call of a person with a gun and found a black male sitting in the driver’s seat of a car. He was suffering from multiple gun shot wounds, and pronounced dead at the scene at 5:39 pm. He was identified as Marvin Hutson, 21, from the 7200 block of Limeklin Pike.

7:51 pm, 4800 Frankford Avenue
Police were called to the home about a domestic disturbance. There they found 36-year-old Michelle Hicks, a black female, lying in the street, bleeding from multiple stab wounds to her torso. Hicks was transported to Frankford Hospital where she was pronounced dead at 8:47 pm. Her boyfriend, Richard Smith, a 26-year-old black male, was arrested for her murder.

11:53 pm, 1600 South 23rd Street
Police found Kenneth Henderson lying outside his house suffering from multiple gunshot wounds to his groin, both legs and his left temple. The 19-year-old was pronounced dead at 12:34 am.

1:15 am, 500 North 35th Street
Police responded to a radio call of a person with a gun. They arrived and found Ronald Saunders, a 20-year-old black male from 3300 Haverford Avenue, with a gunshot wound to the neck. He was pronounced dead at the scene at 1:30 am.

The city's body count for 2008: 41

(Photo credit: Jeff Fusco)

David Everett-Bey, 23

On 11/18/06, around 10:30 pm, David Everett-Bey, a 23-year-old black male, was shot in the stomach during a home invasion on 1800 Hart Lane. According to a female witness, the offenders knocked on the door, forced their way in, and demanded to know where the money was. Police say nothing was taken at time. Everett-Bey was admitted to Temple University Hospital in critical condition and had numerous surgeries. He died on 2/20/08 around 11 pm. Police arrested Antoine Price, a 26-year-old black male, from the 2800 Frankford Avenue, for the assault. The charges have now been upgraded to homicide.

Nakeia McCafferty, 32

At 7:20 on Friday, Feb. 16, police respond to a call at 5440 Market Street for a hospital case. Lying behind a chain-link fence of a vacant rowhouse they found the body of Nakeia McCafferty, a 32-year-old black female from the 5700 block of Hazel Avenue. McCafferty had suffered multiple stab wounds to her face and neck. She was pronounced dead at the scene.

The city's body count for 2008: 34

Ogontz Avenue

Around 5:20 pm yesterday police responded to a radio call on the 7100 block of Ogontz Avenue where they found a 25-year-old black male in the rear driveway. The man had sustained a gun shot wound to the head and was pronounced dead at the scene. Police have no identification on him yet.

The city's body count for 2008: 33

Update:
The victim has been identified as Donovan Weary.

Remembering Tony

One evening when Rashan Miles came home to his Harlem apartment, he checked his messages, and there was his father’s voice.

Miles hadn’t talked to his father since April, and there he was, in his matter-of-fact tone telling Miles to call him or his grandma. His cousin Tony had been shot.

Around 3 am that Sunday, February 3, police responded to a radio call on the 3800 block of Parrish Street, where they found an unresponsive black male with multiple gun shot wounds to the body and face. The male was found a short distance from a car that was still running.

He was later identified as 39-year-old Anthony Saunders, ‘Tony’ to Miles and his family.

Saunders was pronounced dead at 3:26 am.

Miles, who’s been sober for more than two years, left Philadelphia long ago to escape his tattered childhood of drug-addicted parents and a West Philadelphia neighborhood he now calls a shantytown.

When thinking about his cousin’s funeral he was torn between go or not go.

He last saw Tony a year and a half ago at his grandmother’s house.

“He was always happy to see me,” says Miles. The two talked about Miles’ life: his photography, his play, and about Tony, more like his uncle at 10 years his senior, visiting him in New York.

Tony worked well with his hands, Miles remembers, and could build or fix anything. But his fondest memory of Tony is him working the grill at a deli at 40th and Brown. Miles would go there after school and Tony would always look out for him with double cheeseburgers.

Eight years ago, Tony’s mother died of cancer. Miles doesn’t know much about Tony's father. Tony was an only child.

He had two sons and a daughter, and he loved kids. He worked summer after summer as a lifeguard at the neighborhood recreation center.

“He was full of life,” Miles says.

Miles believes Tony was killed over money. Some guy apparently owed him, he says, and Tony had been calling the guy all day. Then around 3 am, the guy told Tony to come get it. Miles says according to Tony’s phone records, it was the last call his cousin ever made.

“My cousin,” Miles says. “It’s just such a … horrible way to die.”

Miles goes to the service. It's the first time he ever sees his grandma cry. Tony was her good grandson, not in-and-out of jail or stealing money out of her purse like some of the others.

Miles greets most of his family with token hellos, but when he sees his cousin lying in his casket, he gently touches him on the shoulder.

“It looks like you’re sleeping,” he whispers to Tony. “Have a very peaceful rest. I can’t believe you’re gone.”

Maximimo Diaz, 37

At 6:27 pm yesterday police officers responded to a shooting at 201 East Wishart Street, the Good Taste Chinese Restaurant. Inside, officers found a Hispanic male, 37-year-old Maximimo Diaz, from the 2900 block of Hurley Street, lying on the floor with two gunshot wounds to the chest. Diaz was transported to Temple University Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 6:57 pm.

Police have no motive or suspect.

The city's body count for 2008: 32

Julius Dante Hall, 26

On Saturday, Feb. 9, at 11:35 pm, police responded to a call on the 2100 block of North 31st Street of a person with a gun. When police arrived, they found Julius Dante Hall, a 26-year-old black male from Van Pelt Street, laying on the highway. Hall was suffering from multiple gunshot wounds to the head and thigh. He was transported to Temple University Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 12:12 am.

Police have no motive or suspect.

The city's body count for 2008: 31

Alice Thurnau, 90

On 9/20/07 around 9: 20 am, Alice Thurnau, a 90-year-old white woman, was walking near her home in the 3300 block of Thompson Street when she was severely beaten in a robbery. The suspect is described as a white male, in his late 20s to early 30s, who fled in a red Chevrolet Blazer. Thurnau, who transported to the hospital in critical condition, died of her injuries on 10/22/07 at St. Mary’s Medical Center in Bucks County. Philadelphia police classified her death a homicide on 2/2/08.

Philly's Most Wanted

In the city's latest crime fighting measure, Police Commissioner Charley Ramsey and Mayor Michael Nutter released the names, last-known addresses and the photographs of the city's most wanted fugitives.

The arrest warrants stem from the city's nine most violent police districts that Ramsey plans to target through his recently announced crime plan.

The 150 fugitives are wanted for murder, rape, armed robbery and aggravated assault. Some of them have multiple warrants.

In the 34-page document, virtually page after page shows the mugshots of young, black men.

One of them, featured first on the police department's most wanted fugitive gallery, is 22-year-old Lamont Cooke. According to the police, "Cooke entered the bar at 57th & Market Street along with four other men and kidnapped the owner. They took the owner to a property in the 6000 block of Cederhurst Street and held him for ransom. The victim was able to escape and notified police. Cooke is also wanted for murder in Maryland."

Next in the gallery is 33-year-old Brian Stephens, who on April 1, 2007, "approached Nikki's Bar to avenge an assault that his friend was the victim of. As the victim approached, [Stephens] allegedly shot him several times."

There's also 22-year-old Robert Spivey. In June of last year, a man "was standing outside in the 4500 block of Hicks Street with a friend when [Spivey] pulled up in a car and started shooting at the [him], striking him twice in the legs."

Police warn that all of the fugitives are considered armed and dangerous, and that anyone with any information should call 911.

"The culture in Philadelphia is about 'stop snitchin'," says Nutter. "I want to send another message: We need to start telling. We need citizens to start telling us what's going on."

Click here to download the citys' most wanted list.

Kuame Burkett, 18

At 8:52 pm yesterday, police officers responded to a shooting at 16th and Brown. When they arrived, they found Kuame Burkett, an 18-year-old black male, lying in the street, suffering from multiple gunshot wounds to his torso and legs. Burkett was transported to Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 5:14 pm.

Police have no motive or suspect.

The city's body count for 2008: 30

Andre Cerdan, 23

At 4:50 pm yesterday, police officers responded to a call about a person with a gun on the 1700 block of South Chadwick Street. When officers arrived, they found Andre Cerdan, a 23-year-old black male, suffering from a gunshot wound to the shoulder. Cerdan was transported to Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 5:14 pm.

Police have no motive or arrest.

Richard Lawrence, 43

Yesterday, around 7:17 am, police were called to the 2500 block of South 66th street for a hospital case. When they arrived, they discovered a black male lying in the rear alley. He had sustained a single gunshot to the side of the face and was pronounced dead at the scene at 7:22. The male was identified as Richard Lawrence, 43, from the 6100 block of Wheeler Street.

The city's body count for 2008: 28

Anthony Saunders, 39

On Sunday morning, around 3:18 am, police responded to a radio call of a man down on the highway at 3900 Reno Street. The officers are later directed to 3800 Parrish where they, along with medical units, found an unresponsive male with multiple gun shot wounds to the body and face. The male was found a short distance from a vehicle that was still running. He was identified as Anthony Saunders, a 39-year-old black male. The ID in his wallet listed an address in West Deptford, NJ. Saunders was pronounced dead at 3:26 am.

Police have motive or suspect.

The city's body count for 2008: 27

Katherine McCormick, 29

On Saturday, around 8:43 pm, police where met at 2122 South Iseminger Street by a man who discovered two bodies in the property. One was Katherine McCormick, a 29-year-old white female. The other was John Rohanna, a 37-year-old white male. Police believe Rohanna shot McCormick, his girlfriend, and later turned the gun on himself. They are ruling the incident a murder-suicide.

West Philadelphia Shooting Leaves 2 Dead

Yesterday, around 11:51 am, at 34 N. St. Bernard Street, police found Troy Jennings, a 32-year-old black male, who lived in the area, suffering from gunshot wounds to the chest. Jennings was transported to the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania where he was pronounced dead at 12:18 pm.

The second victim was Marcellus Johnson, a 29-year-old black male from 100 N Sickles Street in Yeadon. Johnson suffered a gunshot wound to the neck, and was transported to Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania where he was pronounced dead at 12:18 pm.

Both men were shot by an unidentified man with a shotgun. Police have no motive.

The city's body count for 2008: 25

Update:
On 2/4/08 police issued an arrest warrant for 23-year-old Amir Cruz-West from the 100 block of North 49th street. Cruz-West, accompanied by his attorney, surrendered to police at 8th and Race, where he was arrested for the shooting death of Troy Jennings, 32, and Marcellus Johnson, 28.


(Photo credit: Jeff Fusco)