Police say one person was arrested in connection to a shooting at a teenager's funeral in Trenton.
"We've arrested one individual and we've recovered five weapons," said Trenton Police Director Ralph Rivera. "Three in the parking lot adjacent to the church, one at the foyer of the church and one on the individual who was arrested."
Police are now on the hunt for any other shooters who may have been involved.
The shooting broke out shortly after noon on Tuesday during funeral services for 19-year-old Cagney Labon Roberts at the Galilee Baptist Church on Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard.
Three people were shot, according to Rivera.
"I can tell you right now that as a result of this incident, we have three people who were shot," Rivera said. "We have a woman who was grazed and two young men who received more severe injuries."
Investigators say the two men who were shot are in critical condition. Police have not yet determined if the shootings happened inside or outside the church.
Rivera said two other women were hurt. One suffered a seizure and the other was hurt when she got trapped trying to get out of the church.
Eric Muhammad, a cousin of the victim, told Parker that he was in the front row of the church, with other family members, when he heard the shots.
"Well I heard the pop and I immediately turned around and attempted to start securing family members and getting them out the side door and dialing police at the same time," Muhammad told Parker. "The place was full, the place was full."
Police say one person was arrested so far in connection to the shooting while five weapons were recovered. According to investigators, the suspect was trying to drive away from the scene and was armed. Officers who were already gathered outside the church were able to apprehend him.
Police have not yet released his identity and are still trying to determine how many other shooters were involved.
Roberts, who was from Trenton, was shot multiple times last Wednesday night, April 9, when a gunman fired into a crowd of people at the corner of Girard and St. Joes Avenue.
Two others men were wounded by the gunfire.
FUEL, a restaurant in a hip South Philadelphia neighborhood known as East Passyunk, was just one of four restaurants hit in a rash of break-ins overnight.
"Our manager came in and when he came in, he saw that our lock was smashed in," said FUEL owner Rocco Cima. "When he came into the store, he saw that the register was gone."
Surveillance video shows a man lurking outside the restaurant at 1917 E. Passyunk Ave., around 1:30 a.m. The same man is then seen running inside the store, straight to the cash register. He stole the entire thing. Police say the suspect was in -- and out -- of the restaurant in less than a minute.
From FUEL, the brazen robber got away with about $150 in cash, according to police. But FUEL wasn't the only business hit.
Three others on the same street, including Adobe Cafe and Le Virtu, were also robbed overnight. Police say that in all four cases, the registers were taken.
They were found empty Tuesday morning by a parking authority employee two blocks away.
Authorities are reviewing the surveillance video from FUEL. They say that Monday night's break-ins are in addition to at least two more in the area over the last few weeks.
"...Just go get a job," said Cima. "Get a job and stop harassing the people that actually work hard."
Collingdale Police have issued an arrest warrant for Conroy Williams in an intentional hit-and-run case.
Police in suburban Philadelphia rushed to the scene of a hit-and-run Saturday to find a bloodied man and a crashed sports utility vehicle that appeared to have been intentionally used to run down the victim.
The scene played out Saturday morning just before 5:30 a.m. along the 900 block of Bedford Avenue in Collingdale, Delaware County, Pa.
According to Collingdale Police a Range Rover rammed into a parked white Cadillac as the driver, Joel Witherspoon, was either exiting or entering his vehicle. The SUV ended up crashed into a nearby Chrysler 300 – no driver in sight.
Williams is charged with criminal attempted murder, possessing instrument of crime and aggravated assault, among other charges.
The victim managed to stumble onto a nearby lawn where he collapsed. Medics tended to Witherspoon and took him to Crozer-Chester Medical Center for treatment for severe head injuries as well as lower body injuries, according to police.
As the victim underwent surgery Saturday morning, police talked to witnesses at the scene.
Those witnesses, along with the victim himself, told police that it appeared the SUV was lying in wait for the victim. Once the man was out of the car, the driver used the Range Rover as a battering ram, witnesses said.
That’s when the driver of the Range Rover hopped out and into a waiting SUV driven by another person. Police said that second SUV was a light color blue and carried a man and a woman away from the scene.
Police say the alleged driver was wearing a gray hooded sweatshirt, but didn’t release any further details about possible suspects in the case.
The rampage left the front and rear driver side doors of the Cadillac damaged, according to police. Witherspoon is in stable condition as of Sunday afternoon.
Anyone with information about Williams' whereabouts is asked to contact Collingdale Police at 610-565-6500.
Police are looking for a man who pretended to be a Meals on Wheels employee and robbed a 103-year-old woman at her Upper West Side home.
The suspect somehow got past the lobby of the woman's West 94th Street apartment building and ended up at her door, on the 14th floor.
He posed as the worker and talked his way into her apartment, according to the Daily News.
He asked to use her restroom, and then took $250, according to the News.
Her 76-year-old son, Peter Rudko, said his mother is "pretty shaken up."
An 87-year-old neighbor told the News that the victim "is very strong. And very tough."
The latest "sub-dealer" in the Main Line drug ring was brought into custody today. Layfayette College student Christian Euler turned himself into Lower Merion police and is in jail following an afternoon arraignment.
Two prep school graduates who prosecutors say had their sights set on running the drug trade on suburban Philadelphia's Main Line were arrested yesterday along with so-called "sub-dealers" for allegedly selling illicit substances in high schools and colleges.
Montgomery County District Attorney Risa Ferman announced on Monday the arrests of Neil Scott and Timothy Brooks and detailed their alleged operation called the "Main Line Take Over Project."
Scott, 25, and Brooks, 18, employed "sub-dealers" at five Main Line high schools and three area colleges who would sell marijuana, hash oil, cocaine and MDMA, a drug commonly known as Ecstasy, Ferman said. Authorities confiscated drugs, cash and guns in a sweep related to the operation, which officials said had been running for the past couple of months, officials said.
“This was not a game. These people were in business, they were in business to make money and they were going to do whatever they needed to do so that no one threatened their business," Ferman said.
The schools involved were the private Haverford School and public high schools Lower Merion High School and Harriton High School in Lower Merion Township, Pa., Conestoga High School in Tredyffrin Twp., Pa., Radnor High School in Radnor, Pa., as well as Gettysburg, Lafayette and Haverford colleges.
Ferman said both men, who are graduates of the prestigious all-boys preparatory school The Haverford School, worked together to "create a [drug] monopoly to high school students in the area." Both men played lacrosse at the swanky Montgomery County private school and coached youth sports leagues, according to Ferman. The DA said Brooks and Scott exploited those relationships to help grow the criminal enterprise.
According to a 100-page criminal complaint obtained by NBC10.com, Scott received bulk shipments of marijuana from California to his apartment in Haverford, Pa. Drugs would also be sent to his parent's home in Paoli and Brooks' home in Villanova, according to the complaint.
Authorities said Scott worked, at one time, at a legal marijuana dispensary in California and used those connections to garner his supply.
Through text messages obtained during the investigation, prosecutors said they learned Scott and Brooks ran the ring like a legitimate business. Scott allegedly coached Brooks, who would in turn supervise the "sub-dealers" inside the high schools.
“The high school sub-dealers were encouraged to develop their business so that they could sell at least one pound of marijuana each week,” Ferman said. "Brooks instructed the dealers to make sure that there was never a drought."
John Nagl, headmaster for The Haverford School, said school officials were notified about an on-going investigation several weeks ago, but were asked not to interfere.
"We focus on developing boys with good character, despite our best efforts, sometimes boys make bad choices," he said. "This was destructive and horrible. And we are deeply saddened."
Nagle said the school, which teaches 1,000 boys in a lower, middle and upper school, does not comment on current or former students. He said he did not know how many students may have purchased drugs through the ring.
“The school is cooperating with the law enforcement investigation," he said.
Spokespersons for the Lower Merion, Radnor and Tredyffrin/Easttown school districts said officials have been made aware of the allegations and that the safety of students is most important. All said they were unaware of the investigation, but will cooperate if asked.
Gettysburg College is conducting an internal investigation, a spokesman for that college said.
NBC10.com also reached out to the other schools involved in the case, but so far we have not heard back.
Ferman said investigators learned about the "Main Line Take Over Project" through confidential informants and conducted a one-day round-up in February. In that operation, prosecutors said they confiscated 8 lbs. of marijuana, 3 grams of hash oil, 23 grams of cocaine, 11 grams of Ecstasy, $11,000 in cash, a loaded handgun, an AR-15 assault rifle and AR-15 style rifle. Most of the contraband came from Scott's Haverford apartment, authorities said.
In addition to Scott and Brooks, seven alleged "sub-dealers" were also charged. They are: Daniel McGrath, 18, a student at The Haverford School; John Rosemann, 20, a student at Lafayette College; Christian Euler, 23, a graduate of The Haverford School and student at Lafayette College; Garrett Johnson, 18, a student at Haverford College; Reid Cohen, 18, a Haverford College student; Willow Orr, 22; Domenic Curcio, 29.
Two juveniles, a 17-year-old Radnor High School student and 17-year-old Lower Merion High School student, have also been petitioned by the DA's office.
Scott, who is being held on $1 million bail, covered his face and shouted expletives at reporters attempting to get comment following his arraignment on Monday afternoon. His attorney declined comment saying he had just gotten the case.
Brook's attorney said the teen "lost his way" and is remorseful. His parents posted the $25,000 bail to release him from jail.
Contact Vince Lattanzio at 610.668.5532, vince.lattanzio@nbcuni.com or follow @VinceLattanzio on Twitter.
Whether we try to get in a few extra minutes of sleep or just have more tolerable schedules, it appears that Philadelphians get to work at a later time compared to the national average.
Census data shows that the median arrival time to work for Philadelphians is 8:05 a.m., nearly 10 minutes after the national average of 7:55 a.m.
Nate Silver, editor-in-chief of the FiveThirtyEight blog, compiled American Community Survey data that offered unique insight to America's work habits. He concludes that those in the most highly populated metro areas start their workday later than the rest of the country and in general, start time is dictated by the type of work rather than location.
Silver notes that the cities with the latest arrival times tend to be those that employ a lot of young professionals, college towns and cities whose economies rely on gambling and tourism. A quarter of workers in Atlantic City do not start their day until 11:26 a.m., according to census data. Those in Ithaca, N.Y., where Cornell University is located, start work at around 8:19 a.m.
So what is it about some jobs that allow its workers to clock in later?
"The occupation industrial mix makes a big difference because of how workers integrate with the global economy," said Dr. Liana Sayer, a sociology professor at the University of Maryland and an expert on time use.
In other words, a later start means more of your day overlaps with different time zones, Sayer said. This could be a priority for professionals in cities like New York and San Francisco whose work is more linked to the global economy. Their start times stand in contrast to those who work in farming and agriculture and require daylight hours to generate income. Bakersfield, one of California's most agriculturally rich areas, boasts a 7:17 a.m. median start time to its work day, according to Silver's census data.
Professionals in dense cities might also be influenced by colleagues who hold the same work hours. Another explanation may be that professionals in these areas have longer commute times and therefore end up at work later, said Sayer.
Military towns like Killeen, Texas and Jacksonville, N.C., are home to some of the earliest risers. Hinesville, Ga, workers have the earliest median start time of 7:01 a.m.
The numbers in Silver's report refer to the location of the work and not the residence of the workers. The figures also do not include those who work from home. He used the median start time for each city, which means half of its workers start earlier and the other half starts later.
Investigators with the Delaware County District Attorney’s Office searched through the Chester City Police Department on Tuesday during a raid.
The officials arrived early Tuesday afternoon at the Chester City Police Department headquarters on 160 East 7th Street in Chester.
A spokesperson with the District Attorney’s Office told NBC10 the officials were searching for possible missing evidence. The officers later left the scene.
Officials have not yet revealed the details of the investigation or if any missing evidence was found.
Stay with NBC10.com for more details on this developing story.
Click here for more news from the Pennsylvania, South Jersey and Delaware area.
West Chester University students are dealing with a rash of sexual assaults after a fifth attack was reported in less than one month.
The school’s Department of Public Safety issued a timely warning after another student told authorities she was assaulted while walking on-campus around 12:30 a.m. Friday.
The suspect, who appeared intoxicated, approached the victim from behind as she was walking between Goshen Hall and Tyson Hall, according to the alert. He grabbed her buttocks, but fled when the victim threatened to use a defensive spray.
The incident occurred two days after another student told authorities a man in his fifties or sixties touched her inappropriately while she studied in the library. An arrest has been made in that case, according to a Department of Public Safety official.
More than 15,00 graduate and undergraduate students attend the public university, which is located in a typically quiet Chester County suburb about 25 miles west of Philadelphia.
Authorities are still searching for suspects in three other assaults that occurred between March 30 and April 19.
Offiicals say the incidents do not appear to be connected. Anyone with information about any of the crimes is asked to call the University’s Department of Public Safety at 610-436-3311.
Police are on the hunt for a hit-and-run driver who struck a man in West Philadelphia.
Police say a man in his 20’s was on 54th and Market Streets on Friday around 11:30 p.m. when he was struck by a vehicle.
The impact sent the man up and over the car. Investigators say the striking vehicle then fled the scene.
The unidentified man was taken to the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. He is currently in stable condition.
The hit-and-run vehicle is described as a dark-colored 2004 Pontiac with a missing front headlight.
If you have any information on the driver’s whereabouts, please call Philadelphia Police.
Animal welfare officials say they rescued 40 rabbits from filthy conditions at a barn in central Pennsylvania.
The Lycoming County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals reports officers also found about 10 dead bunnies at the property in Clinton Township.
SPCA chief humane officer Lawrence Woltz says several inches of rabbit feces covered the barn floor. He says some rabbit corpses were found in a pile, while others were still locked in cages.
Woltz tells the Williamsport Sun-Gazette that the unnamed owner will face charges of animal cruelty.
Woltz says the agency searched the property Thursday after receiving a tip from two women who visited the breeder to buy a pet.
A pizza delivery man remains in the hospital several days after he was shot by two Philadelphia police officers that he may have thought were fake cops. Those officers told police investigators they believed the young man was about to run them down in his Ford Taurus.
"At this time it just appears to be unfortunate for both the officers and this person," said Deputy Police Commissioner Richard Ross on Wednesday, describing what police believe happened.
The victim, 20-year-old Philippe Holland, was delivering pizza for Slices and More Pizzeria and Grill in Upper Darby. It's his night job, according to his boss, Tony Spirokostas.
"He had two jobs. He had a day job at the airport; was going to school at Delaware County," said Spirokostas, who describes Holland as quiet, humble, respectful and hard-working.
Holland's delivery was near 51st Street and Willows Avenue in the Kingsessing section of the city, just before 10 p.m. on Tuesday night. At that same time, the two officers -- who were not in uniform -- came to the neighborhood after hearing gunshots.
"They responded to gunshots. They're surveying the area and they see this male walking with a hoodie," Ross said. "He's got his hands in his pocket and at that time, they order him to stop, and identify themselves."
Ross said police think it is possible that Holland did not hear the officers identify themselves, or that he may have thought they were fake cops.
"We believe, unfortunately, that he also is of the belief that he is being robbed," Ross said.
At that point, police say Holland got back in his car and started to back up.
"And at that time, he's in his vehicle and he proceeds toward them. They [the officers] believe they're being run over. And they fire their weapon," Ross said.
Holland was shot in the leg, the neck and the head. He remains in critical condition at the Hospital at the University of Pennsylvania.
The 12th District officers have been taken off the street, which is standard procedure, while their case is investigated by the Internal Affairs division of the Philadelphia Police Department.
"Unfortunately, it just appears like it's a set of circumstances that no one could have predicted and we're just hopeful that this male survives," Ross said.
In the Upper Darby neighborhood where Holland lives, neighbor Roy Taylor said he is praying that Holland returns home healthy and soon.
"It's awful. It's a shame. He's a great person. Good neighbor. Do anything for you," Taylor said. "When I heard, I just couldnt' believe it."
Police are searching for a man who they say repeatedly tried to lure a teenage girl in Collingdale, Pa.
A 16-year-old girl told police she was walking home from Academy Park High School in Sharon Hill around 2:30 p.m. back on April 22. As she walked along Sharon Avenue and entered Collingdale, investigators say an unidentified man driving a Nissan Altima began to follow her.
The girl says the man stopped in front of Harris Elementary School and began to compliment her appearance. He then allegedly asked her how old she was.
The girl told police she lied to the man and told him she was 13-years-old, believing this would stop him from bothering her. The man then allegedly exited his car, opened the trunk and told her he wanted to “show her something.”
Police say the girl continued to walk towards Ash Avenue. The man then allegedly exited his car once again, opened the trunk and told her a second time that he wanted to show her what was inside.
Police say the teen continued to walk away and made a detour towards Clifton Avenue. The girl told police she then spotted the suspect once more, standing behind his car with the trunk open. He then allegedly yelled at her, telling her to come and look inside the trunk, motioning for her to come towards him.
Investigators say the girl continued to walk and made it home safely.
The suspect is described as a heavily built black male with a medium complexion in his late 40’s, standing between 5-foot-2 and 5-foot-3. Investigators also say the man has poor dental hygiene with yellow, crooked teeth and a thin mustache.
If you have any information on the man’s whereabouts, please call Collingdale Police at 610-586-0502.
A man is behind bars after he allegedly abused an elderly couple who allowed him inside their home.
Investigators say an 83-year-old woman and her 85-year-old husband allowed 55-year-old William Miller to move into their home on the 3900 block of North Percy Street in Philadelphia during the winter of 2009.
According to police, Miller was homeless at the time and the couple allowed him to move in with them under the condition that he would help them around the house.
Investigators say that in 2011, Miller began to physically assault the couple, beginning a cycle of abuse that would last for three years. Miller allegedly beat the 83-year-old woman on a monthly basis and her husband on a daily basis. Police say Miller repeatedly asked the couple for money and would beat them whenever they refused.
According to officials, the 85-year-old man suffered from medical conditions but Miller would attack him anyway.
Police say the last incident occurred a few weeks ago when Miller punched the elderly woman in the face several times, causing swelling. Miller allegedly threatened to kill the couple if they ever tried to tell police about the abuse.
Police say the elderly man was taken to Temple University Hospital back on Easter Sunday after a recent assault by Miller. Police were notified which sparked their investigation.
Miller was arrested on Thursday and charged with Attempted Murder, Aggravated Assault, Robbery and other related offenses. Investigators say Miller had three prior arrests for burglary and narcotics.
Police continue to investigate.
After much public controversy over his firing, Anthony "AJ" Maida, former head wrestling coach for Methacton High School, was reinstated today, according to school district officials.
Dr. David A. Zerbe told LP TAP that he was rehired as of 9:05 a.m. today, Saturday, April 26.
"It is a matter of personnel,” said Zerbe. “But, the bottom line is I was able to make a decisions after reviewing additional information.”
Zerbe said he was happy with the decision.
“I have decided this was the correct action, based on what information I had,” said Zerbe.
Zerbe said that a planned meeting for May 6 regarding Transportation should be advertised later this week. During that meeting, he will make an official public statement regarding Maida.
Wrestling parents first broke the news to LP TAP via our Facebook page. The information was announced at a 9 a.m. meeting today with parents and players. Zerbe told the parents in person of the decision.
The next meeting of the Methacton School Board will be held on Tuesday, May 6 at 6:15 p.m. at the Methacton High School LGI Room. The public is welcome to attend.
This story was published through a news coverage partnership between The Alternative Press of Lower Providence and NBC10.com
