A 66-year-old grandmother was found dead at the bottom of her basement steps Sunday morning, killed while two of her grandsons slept in a second-floor bedroom of their Port Richmond home, police said.

Marion Frew's lifeless body was discovered with a stab wound to the neck at the base of the wooden stairs by her son-in-law, who was in the house when she was killed, police said. She was pronounced dead at the scene at 10:44 a.m.

"It's just really sad. She was a good grandmother," said Elizabeth Glasgow, 43, who lives a few houses down from Frew.

Frew was a kind woman who kept to herself and often stayed in the family's two-story home on Weikel Street near Tioga, neighbors said. She was always seen with her grandchildren, whom she cared for while her daughter worked nights at a Wawa store.

"She was a sweet woman," Glasgow said, adding that she was surprised that the crime happened on a "family block."

After Frew's body was found, her grandsons were rushed a few doors down to Jimmy Geier's home where the boys, ages 9 and 11, learned that their grandmother had died, he said.

Geier, 49, who is the godfather of one of the boys, said that the family has lived in the house for 13 years. He said that he helped baby-sit the children when Frew was unavailable.

"She was friendly," Geier said. "She just didn't bother with anybody."

None of Frew's relatives was home for comment yesterday.

"Nobody deserves that. I don't care if you're the worst person in the world," said a neighbor whose grandsons played with Frew's. "She will be missed."

Police yesterday knew of no motive and said that no arrests have been made.

Frew's son-in-law was being questioned last night, but police were quick to note that he was not considered a suspect.

"She was a really nice woman," Glasgow said. "I hope they find whoever did that to her."

A 53-year-old man was stabbed to death after an argument inside a West Philadelphia home last night, police said.

The victim was inside a house on Wanamaker Street near Girard Avenue about 7:30, when an argument broke out over money between the victim and one of his friends, cops said. He was pronounced dead at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. Police arrested the man's friend, but no further details were provided.

Cop shoots at armed man

A Narcotics Strike Force officer fired at a man who aimed a gun at him during a chase in North Philly yesterday.

Police spokesman Lt. Frank Vanore said the cop shot at the man on 29th Street near York about 10 p.m. The man, who was not wounded, was arrested. Police recovered his weapon at the scene, Vanore said. The cop was not injured.

Police ID slaying victim

Police identified a man stabbed to death Thursday night after arguing with a friend over money as Bryant Bell, 52, of Wanamaker Street near Race.

The argument occurred inside a house on Wanamaker Street near Girard Avenue shortly after 7 p.m., police said. Bell died at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania at 9:42 p.m., police said. Police have a man in custody and expect to file charges.

DOROTHY FLORA'S house was a safe one for those with nowhere else to go.

She would take strangers and the homeless into her beautiful nine-bedroom house on Leiper Street near Arrott, in Frankford, according to friends and neighbors.

But early yesterday morning, that safety was shattered. That was evident from the bullet hole in one front window and the shattered glass that littered the walkway in front of another.

Flora, 54, and her son, Shane Ferguson, 25, who were identified by friends and neighbors, were found shot to death in the home about 1:17 a.m.

Police said the gunman was known to them and the victims, but they were tight-lipped last night about what his relationship was to Flora and Ferguson or what motivated the shooting, except to say that it was sparked by an argument.

Flora was found in a front bedroom with multiple gunshot wounds; Ferguson, also shot many times, was found in the living room, police said. Both were pronounced dead at the scene.

Shocked friends and neighbors, many of whom had been helped by Flora over the years, went to the house yesterday afternoon to make sure it wasn't being vandalized and to reflect on the senselessness of the crime.

Mike Conyers, 25, said that Flora once had lent him $500 when his house was burglarized.

"She was a good person; she'd give you her leg," he said. "She used to help bums, give them clothes. She was just kindhearted."

Julius Irving, 26, said that Flora had been putting up people and renting rooms "forever."

"Everybody in the neighborhood knew and loved her - young and old," he said.

Ferguson, who lived with his mother, had a 4-year-old daughter and was a nice guy who liked to make jokes, Conyers and Irving said.

Shante Jenkins, 23, said that "Miss Dorothy" would have cookouts and treat everyone in the neighborhood.

"And if we needed somewhere to stay, we could always come here," she said.

Yesterday, she and Latoya Hill, 23, saw a much more gruesome scene, watching police take the bodies of Flora and Ferguson out of the house.

Hill and Jenkins said that they had attended Frankford High School with Ferguson. Jenkins said that Ferguson enjoyed "chilling with the girls." The women said that he liked fast cars and working on his Dodge Charger, which was absent from the house yesterday, although two other cars remained in the driveway.

Jenkins said that she had heard that Flora's dog was also fatally shot during the altercation, but police could not confirm that. A cat sat in a window for some time yesterday, looking out at Flora's well-kept yard, which had a gazebo and the beginnings of a vegetable garden.

"You could always see Miss Dorothy out here in her gazebo or her gardening," Jenkins said. "I can't believe we won't see her anymore."

IN SEPARATE incidents in the city this weekend, a man was killed following a chivalrous deed, another was shot after stepping outside a bachelor party and a gunman became a victim of violence himself when he was beaten hours after he shot someone, according to police.

A 17-year-old boy who had just walked his girlfriend home and was on the way back to his house was shot about 3:45 a.m. yesterday in East Germantown, police said.

The teen, Dwayne Johnson, was shot multiple times on Spencer Street near 21st, the block in which he lived, according to police.

He was taken to Albert Einstein Medical Center in critical condition and was pronounced dead at 8:45 a.m.

Police had made no immediate arrests.

About 1:30 a.m. yesterday, a 27-year-old man attending a bachelor party at Sabel's Showbar, on Ford Road near Cranston, in Wynnefield Heights, walked outside to take a phone call and was approached by a man with a gun, police said.

The gunman, who wore an orange bandanna on his face, told the man to walk with him, possibly to get him to a more secluded area so he could rob him, police said.

Instead, the man ran and the assailant shot him once in the back, according to police.

The victim was found between two parked cars and rushed to the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, where he was listed yesterday in critical but stable condition, police said.

The shooter remained on the loose.

About 11:44 p.m. Friday, a 34-year-old man was standing on Croskey Street near Lippincott, in North Philadelphia, and leaning into the passenger's side of his car, when Marchello Bradley, 24, shot him twice in the shoulder for unknown reasons, police said.

Bradley, of 22nd Street near Westmoreland, fled on foot and the victim was taken to Temple University Hospital, where he was listed in stable condition.

Using information from witnesses, police searched for Bradley. About 1:05 a.m., cops were called to Germantown Avenue near Luzerne Street, in Tioga-Nicetown, for a man found beaten on the roadway and realized that the victim - Bradley - matched the description of the shooter in the other case, police said.

Bradley, bleeding from his head, was taken to Albert Einstein Medical Center. His condition was not released yesterday, and police said that they weren't able to interview him because the hospital had inserted a tube down his throat.

Cops did, however, charge him with aggravated assault, firearms violations and related crimes for the earlier shooting.

Police said that they did not know if the beating was in retaliation for the shooting.

Anyone with information on any of these cases is urged to call the police tip line at 215-686-TIPS.