Services set for boy killed in cross fire Faheem Thomas-Childs, 10, shot in a gun battle outside his North Phila. school, will be laid to rest Tuesday.

Funeral services are scheduled Tuesday for Faheem Thomas-Childs, the 10-year-old boy shot in cross fire as he arrived at his school in North Philadelphia last week.

A public viewing is set for 9 to 11:30 a.m. at Deliverance Evangelistic Church, 2001 W. Lehigh Ave. A private funeral is to be held at 11:30 at the church. Burial will be in Mount Peace Cemetery at 31st Street and Lehigh Avenue, according to spokesmen for the child's family.

Faheem, who died Monday, was shot in the face Feb. 11 by a stray bullet as two groups of men waged a furious gunfight outside Peirce Elementary School at 23d and Cambria Streets minutes before the start of school. Debra Smith, a school crossing guard, was shot in the foot. She was treated at Temple University Hospital and released on the day of the shooting.

Kareem Johnson, 20, and Kennell Spady, 19, both of North Philadelphia, have been arrested in the case. Both have been charged with murder and were being held without bail.

Police have said they believe up to six people were involved in the shoot-out and have asked for witnesses to come forward.

In a related matter yesterday, Police Commissioner Sylvester M. Johnson, U.S. Attorney Patrick Meehan, and officials from the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms called an afternoon news conference to announce that officials wanted to talk to a North Philadelphia man in connection with the shootings.

Cassius Broaster, 28, was in federal custody yesterday, held without bail on an unrelated weapons charge.

"I'm going to call him a person who we're interested in finding out where he was that particular day and moment at the time of the shooting," Johnson said. "But I'm not calling him a suspect."

Broaster's lawyer, Dennis Cogan, however, told reporters that it was clear that his client was a suspect in Faheem's slaying. Neither Meehan nor police would confirm that.

"Cassius Broaster is not on the streets, and Cassius Broaster will not be on the streets for quite sometime," Meehan added.

Johnson has repeatedly called Broaster and his brother, Jerome Broaster, 30, the city's worst violent offenders.

But the brothers do not have any significant criminal convictions in the city, according to court records. In June, a Common Pleas Court jury acquitted the Broasters of murder in the Feb. 23, 2002, killings of three people in a North Philadelphia speakeasy.

Police believed those slayings were part of a drug rivalry, but prosecutors said the case was plagued by witness intimidation.

J. Whyatt Mondesire, head of the Philadelphia NAACP, said donations to a memorial fund to help pay for the funeral and to aid Faheem's eight siblings had reached $2,500.

Donations may be sent to the Faheem Thomas-Childs Memorial Fund, care of the NAACP of Philadelphia, 1619 Cecil B. Moore Ave, Philadelphia 19121.

Contact staff writer Vernon Clark at 215-854-5717 or vclark@phillynews.com.

Inquirer staff writers Ira Porter and Jacqueline Soteropoulos contributed to this article.