BY SAM WOOD FOR THE INQUIRER The new Philadelphia police commissioner has his work cut out for him. At least four people were brutally murdered in the 24-hour period that followed Wednesday’s unveiling of Charles H. Ramsey’s new crime-fighting plan. An autopsy scheduled for this morning will determine if a fifth person, found dead early Thursday inside a Kensington rowhouse, was a victim of a drug overdose or a vicious beating, police said. * The bloodshed began Wednesday evening when a Frankford man, Roberton Overton, was gunned down about 8:30 p.m. outside a city Kmart store. Five hours later, a […]

BY SAM WOOD INQUIRER STAFF WRITER A pregnant woman was shot dead in the city’s Frankford section overnight, police said, but doctors at Temple University Hospital were able to save her child. The expectant young mother was killed by a single shotgun blast to her back shortly after 1 a.m. on the 4600 block of Griscomb Street, police said. The woman, who was 28 weeks pregnant, was found by police at 1:18 a.m. inside a parked car with her legs draped out the door. Her baby girl was expected to survive after an emergency delivery at Temple, police said. The […]

INQUIRER: Most of the initial changes in the department’s operations last week were largely cosmetic: Mayor Nutter declared a symbolic “crime emergency” after he was sworn in Monday, and the commissioner vowed to increase the department’s visibility by wearing a uniform and driving a marked squad car himself. But behind the scenes, the former Washington police chief is sending signals that big changes are in store.The coming weeks are likely to include many long workdays for Ramsey’s command staff: In addition to the morning meetings, the commissioner has scheduled six nightly meetings across the city to gather public comment before […]

INQUIRER: An unidentified man was found with a gunshot wound to the head shortly before 12:30 a.m. today at 22nd and Thompson Streets, police said. The victim, in his 40s, was pronounced dead at the scene at 12:46 a.m. Police are continuing their investigation. They have made no arrests and have no motive for the shooting.

INQUIRER: Lt. Frank Vanore said that Timothy Goode, 24, of the 1000 block of Pratt Street, was involved in a drug deal Friday night in Germantown. Vanore said that when police moved in, Timothy Goode ran to Logan Street and turned toward police with a gun. Officers shot him twice, in the side and lower back. He died at Temple University Hospital. A 9mm semi-automatic handgun and a bag containing 45 crack vials were recovered nearby, police said. Plainclothes narcotics officers had been staking out the area of 200 Clapier St. where, police said, numerous drug transactions had been reported. […]

INQUIRER: A man was shot in the forehead and shoulder just before midnight last night in the 5200 block of Spruce Street, a police spokesman said. Police said the shooting took place at about 11:50 p.m. The 27-year-old male is in critical condition at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. No arrests have been made.

INQUIRER: A man was found shot to death in West Philadelphia on Christmas night, police said.The body of Shawn McKnight, 35, was found dead between a car and a cherry-picker truck in the 400 block of North 60th Street near Haverford Avenue last night. He had been shot multiple times in the chest. McKnight was taken to the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania where he was pronounced dead just after 8 p.m., police said. Police believe that McNight may have been a victim of an attempted robbery gone awry. * A North Philadelphia man was fatally shot last night […]

DAILY NEWS: Anthony Elps allegedly was holding a handgun as he locked eyes with Sonia Perez. Perez, his ex-girlfriend, was holding her 4-month-old son in a car seat outside her West Philly home.“Get in the car!” Elps said, according to police. He wouldn’t ask again. Elps snatched the car seat, baby and all, and tossed it in the back of his 1994 Pontiac Bonneville. Then he grabbed Perez by the neck and threw her in the car, too, said Highway Patrol Capt. Michael Cochrane. When the Pontiac sped off, about 8:30 a.m. on Monday, Cochrane said, Elps turned to Perez […]

NBC10: The shooting was reported prior to 5 p.m. inside a house on the 1900 block of South Salford Street.The child was rushed to Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia in critical condition but soon pronounced dead, police said.Chopper 10 over the scene showed police and fire department activity on the street outside the home.Police said they are questioning people but reported no arrests, and they were not immediately commenting on the circumstances of the shooting.

Two men were shot – one fatally – last night in Powelton Village, police said. The shooting occurred just before 11 p.m. at 40th and Green Streets in West Philadelphia. A 26-year-old, shot once in the abdomen, was taken to the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, where he was pronounced dead a few minutes after midnight, police said. The homicide was the city’s 370th this year. The other man, 45, was in stable condition at HUP with a gunshot wound to the left shoulder. Another man was critically wounded this morning in the 100 block of West Thelma Street […]

DAILY NEWS: A 20-year-old man was fatally shot in broad daylight yesterday in Point Breeze. Homicide Lt. Philip Riehl said Jamar Williams was sitting inside a white van on Dickinson Street near Capitol at 2:47 p.m. when he was shot in the back and abdomen. Williams, of Stanley Street near Dickinson, got out the van and collapsed. He died at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania at 3:30 p.m. Witnesses said they had not gotten a look at the driver of the vehicle, and it’s unknown what motivated the shooting, Riehl said. According to court records, Williams was arrested […]

A five-year-old boy was shot at his family’s home in the 600 block of West Huntingdon Street in Philadelphia’s West Kensington neighborhood around 1am on Tuesday. The young boy was under treatment late in the morning at St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children where he was listed in stable condition with a gunshot wound of his buttocks. Police later found handguns in a nearby car and at the young victim’s house but had not immediately determined whether either of those weapons had been fired. Investigators initially said they were not sure if the shooting was deliberate or accidental, having received conflicting stories from various family […]

University of Pennsylvania police early Monday morning shot and killed a man accused of shooting a disc jockey at a strip club near the Penn campus, according to Philadelphia police. A campus police officer shot the alleged gunman after the DJ was shot inside Club Wizzards located below Chili’s restaurant at 38th and Chestnut Street, a homicide detective said. Campus police shot the alleged gunman in the chest at about 12:14 a.m. outside of Chili’s as he ran away. Authorities say University of Pennsylvania police were called to a report of a fight at the strip club. As police arrived […]