A 20-year-old man was shot to death in West Philadelphia yesterday morning.

The unidentified man suffered gunshot wounds to his right eye and chest about 5 a.m. on Dekalb Street near Fairmount Avenue. He was pronounced dead at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania at 5:32 p.m.

Body in Manayunk Canal ID'd

The Medical Examiner's Office yesterday identified the man who was found dead in the Manayunk Canal about 9 a.m. Saturday as Sammy Parker Sr., 62.

Parker's body was recovered from the canal near Green Lane by the Police Marine Unit. Jeff Moran, spokesman for the M.E.'s Office, said that a cause of death is still to be determined. Northwest Detectives said Sunday that foul play was not suspected and that it appears the man had drowned.

Shooting victim still hospitalized

An unidentified man remains in critical condition at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital after being shot late Sunday in South Philadelphia.

The 23-year-old victim was shot once in the stomach shortly before 11 p.m. on Moore Street near 5th by a man riding a bicycle.



Homicide Statistics
April 13, 2010
As of 11:59 PM Previous Day

Mohamed Kamara, a college-bound Penn Wood High School senior, had just two days of life past his 18th birthday before he was shot and killed Tuesday afternoon in East Lansdowne.

The alleged killer, Tristin Fisher, also 18, had less than 24 hours of freedom before he was arrested on a charge of first-degree murder, Delaware County District Attorney G. Michael Green said yesterday.

The motive for the daylight shooting, East Lansdowne's first homicide in nine years, is one that's all too common and senseless - a "beef," Green said.

Kamara was fistfighting with another, unknown man, but when he started to get the better of his opponent, Fisher, who called the other man his cousin, stepped in, according to the affidavit.

Fisher allegedly told police that he just happened to find a gun on the sidewalk nearby, picked it up and fired at Kamara.

Investigators, who haven't found the weapon, aren't buying that account.

"His story about finding it on the ground at exactly the moment when he used it is, in a word, incredible," Green said. "I don't believe it and I don't think any investigator involved in the case does."

Kamara was shot two times - once in the upper torso and once in the stomach - about 4 p.m. on Lexington Avenue near Pembroke. He was transported to the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, where he was pronounced dead within 40 minutes.

Following up on tips that numerous teens had been seen running from the shooting into a house two blocks away, police responded to the house, on Wildwood Avenue near Pembroke, and conducted several interviews.

"I think it's fair to say none are saying that they were present at the immediate scene when this took place," Green said.

Police aren't sure why so many people from the scene had run into one house together, and Green said that the individuals questioned weren't forthcoming about that information.

Fisher, who was in the house when police arrived, was identified by his clothing as the shooter and admitted in interviews with police that he pulled the trigger, Green said.

The name "Devon" surfaced in the investigation and he's become a "critical person of interest," Green said. Investigators aren't sure if he was the unidentified man in the initial fistfight with Kamara, or if he played another role.

Police don't know what the initial fight was about or if Kamara and his opponent knew each other. Green said there was nothing to suggest that Fisher and Kamara had met before Tuesday.

Rumors coming out of the high school have suggested that Kamara had been lured to the area that day by a girl, but Green said there was nothing to substantiate that.

Fisher, of Castor Avenue near Devereaux, in Northeast Philadelphia, faces homicide, first-degree murder and related charges.

Anyone with information on the case is urged to call East Lans-downe police at 610-259-2308.

Police released a video yesterday of two suspects who they said were involved in the shooting death of a 19-year-old man in Crescentville Friday night, and said that the shooting had to do with $10 that had gone missing earlier in the day.

The victim, Sebree Johnson, who had played basketball at Simon Gratz High School, was shot outside Reish's Pub, on Rising Sun Avenue near Rosalie Street, about 8 p.m. Friday.

Homicide Capt. James Clark said at a news conference yesterday that the two suspects were seen earlier in the evening inside the Lu Grocery store, at Colgate Street and Cheltenham Avenue, two blocks from the bar.

The men had bought food at the store and then allegedly misplaced $10.

Not finding their money, they accused a 17-year-old of taking it, Clark said.

He said the two men then saw the 17-year-old outside the bar and argued with him. John- son and another man, friends of the 17-year-old, then joined in.

That's when the gunman, believed to be the man in the video in a black hoodie with several top-front teeth missing, allegedly shot Johnson several times.

The video and descriptions of the assailants can be seen at www.phillypolice.com. Click on the "News" tab in the middle-left of the page.

Anyone with information about the gunman's identity is asked to call the homicide division at 215-686-3334 or -3335.

Johnson's mother, Rochelle Horton-Nichols, of North Carolina, came to Philadelphia after hearing of her son's death. She said that a viewing would begin at 11 a.m. today at Victory Baptist Church, on Wallace Street near 43rd, in West Philadelphia, followed by a service at noon.

A robbery victim who survived being shot seven times in North Philly early yesterday was among those who were assaulted in the city this weekend.

The unidentified 29-year-old man was walking on Germantown Avenue near Oakdale Street about 12:05 a.m. when he was approached by two men who demanded his money at gunpoint, police said.

After robbing the victim of $250, one of the assailants shot him seven times and said he did so because the victim had tried to run, police said.

Despite bullet wounds to his abdomen, arms and legs, the victim was listed in stable condition yesterday at Temple University Hospital.

Police said that the assailants were both black men between 25 and 30 years old. One was heavyset, about 5-feet-8 with a light beard. The other was about 6 feet tall with a thin build and a cleanshaven face.

The robbers were allegedly being driven around by an unidentified woman in a late-model Dodge Charger, according to police.

Shortly before that shooting, about 11:38 p.m. Saturday, police were called to a home on Bouvier Street near York in North Philadelphia, where they found a 23-year-old man with a gunshot wound to the back of his head.

The unidentified victim told police he had been sitting in his car, which was parked on the street about a block away, when two men ran past, one of whom turned and fired a gun at his vehicle.

Although he was able to run home after being shot, the victim is now listed in serious condition at Temple, according to police.

Two women - a mother and daughter - were listed in stable condition yesterday after a hammer attack Saturday night by the mother's boyfriend, police said.

The 50-year-old mother was staying with her 21-year-old daughter on Haworth Street near Cottage, in Northeast Philadelphia, after an argument with her live-in boyfriend, who then showed up at her daughter's home, police said.

The 44-year-old man, who has not been identified, allegedly broke a window in the front door to try and get inside. One of the women grabbed a hammer to defend herself, but he snatched it and used it to hit them.

Both women were taken to Aria Health's Torresdale campus, where they required stitches and other treatment.

The alleged assailant is known to police, but they did not release his name and he had not been arrested as of last night.

Also still on the lam last night was the person who left a 46-year-old man in critical condition after stabbing him in the neck at 1:20 a.m. yesterday on 52nd Street near Arch, in West Philadelphia.

The victim, who was not identified by police, remains in critical condition at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania.