Towing in Philadelphia long has been a rough-and-tumble business of aggressive competitors and, according to critics, its share of shady practices. On Monday, the aggression reached a new level.
That's when Jose LaTorre Jr. - one of the sons in J & Sons - arrived at the scene of a North Philadelphia wreck to claim the job. The only problem was that he was driving his Cadillac Escalade, not a tow truck.
When Mystical driver Angel Carrera arrived in an actual tow truck, he and LaTorre got into an argument over which company could do the work.
In the end, police said, LaTorre shot Carrera in the left thigh. Detectives have been searching for LaTorre ever since.
LaTorre's father, Jose Sr., said his son was acting in self-defense and planned to surrender Wednesday, though he had not done so as of 11:15 p.m., according to police.
"My son didn't want to fight the guy," he said. "He was going in his pocket. My son got scared."
LaTorre Sr. said he had nothing to do with shooting up Mystical Towing. Even the police knew that, he said, because they hadn't bothered to question him.
"It's stupid, man," he said. "If you going to retaliate, what sense is there to shoot a wall?"
Across Roosevelt Boulevard, at Mystical, Campbell said that he was tired of talking about the whole ordeal, but that any suggestion that he had something to do with the arson at J & Sons was ridiculous.
"They're trying to cover up what his son did to us, trying to flip the script on us," Campbell said.
He said Jose LaTorre Jr. had called him that morning to say "he never meant anything toward my business, that it wasn't personal."
Campbell said that for all he knew, the arson at J & Sons and the shooting at Mystical could have been done by a third party seeking to harm both businesses.
"The bottom line is that it has to stop," he said.
