Drive By Shooting

Police are investigating a lunch-hour drive-by shooting yesterday that left a city man dead. Kevin Jackson, 22, whose address was unavailable, was dead on arrival at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania after the 11:55 a.m. attack in front of a church at 17th and Morris streets in South Philadelphia. Jackson was sitting in a 1998 silver BMW when a gunman in a gray sport-utility vehicle shot him, police said. He was shot several times in the neck, chest and left arm, police said.

A drive-by shooting at a North Philadelphia playground put a teenager in the hospital Friday afternoon, according to police. The 18-year-old was in the East Poplar Playground on the 800 block of North Ninth Street when a burgundy car with tinted windows drove by and someone inside fired into the park, said Officer Jillian Russell, spokeswoman for the Philadelphia police. The teen was grazed by a bullet and released that day, she said. The shooter remains at large, and police have no description.

A 21-year-old man was critically wounded in a drive-by shooting in North Philadelphia late Thursday, police said. After regaining consciousness, the victim told investigators the last thing he recalled while walking down the 1000 block of West Huntingdon Street about 11:35 p.m. was hearing a racing car engine and gunshots. Hit in the right neck, the man collapsed on the street. He was taken to Temple University Hospital, where he was reported in critical but stable condition. Police said they do not have a description of the car. Anyone with information should call Central Detectives at 215-686-3093.

A county court jury has convicted a Bristol Borough man of aggravated assault for a drive-by shooting apparently prompted by a pizza order that went bad. After deliberating nearly two hours on Tuesday, the jurors also found Patrick J. Kelly, 44, of the 300 block of Market Street, guilty of reckless endangerment, possession of instruments of crime, simple assault and terroristic threats. They acquitted him of attempted homicide and attempted voluntary manslaughter in connection with the Jan. 10 shooting along Otter Street.

A gunfight on the 600 block of Merchant Street early Sunday left a man who is a suspect in an August drive-by shooting seriously hurt with 11 bullet wounds, police reported. Police from at least a dozen municipal departments in Chester County, as well as state police, helped control the large crowd that gathered at the scene. One man was arrested shortly after the 3 a.m. shooting and police are looking for a second suspect. Several cars were hit by bullets. Police found one .380-caliber and two 9mm handguns near the scene.

A 9-year-old girl was hit in the face by a bullet when she got caught in a drive-by shooting at Sixth and Pike Streets in North Philadelphia yesterday, police said. Tashzma Randolph was taken to Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, where she was still in the operating room late last night, police said. "She was just walking from the corner store at Sixth and Pike, and a crowd of three people came down, and two opened fire," said a detective who asked not to be named. "They were shooting at someone else, and she got caught in the crossfire.

Five men standing on a street corner in North Philadelphia were shot and wounded last night by a group of gunmen who drove up in at least two cars and opened fire with an automatic weapon and a shotgun, police said. Police said they believed the shooting was drug-related, and members of OK Corral drug gangs in Hunting Park were being sought for questioning. But police said they had no evidence that the victims were anything but innocent bystanders hit by gunfire not meant for them.

A 14-year-old boy was killed last night when a bullet from a drive-by shooting went through the door of a house and struck him as he was talking on the telephone, police said. The boy, Edwin Rodriguez, was hit in the face about 11:10 p.m. on Cornwall Street near American in Kensington. He was pronounced dead about 40 minutes later at Temple University Hospital. Police said the boy did not live at the house. Neighbors said he lived two blocks away. Police arriving at the scene didn't wait for an ambulance, but carried him in a stretcher to a police wagon, and then rushed him to the hospital.

Shots at a North Philadelphia basketball court yesterday turned from free throws to bloodshed when a drive-by shooting killed one man and injured a second. Two men in a burgundy car fired shots at 11:48 a.m. at the basketball court on the Whittier Playground at 27th and Clearfield streets, across the street from John Whittier Elementary School, police said. One player, a 25-year-old man, was shot once in the chest and once in the left side. He was pronounced dead at 6:07 p.m. at Temple University Hospital.

One North Philadelphia man was killed and two of his neighbors were wounded last night during a shooting incident on 24th Street, police said. Sterling Pinkett, 29, of Nicholas Street near 24th, was wounded once in his chest during the 9:42 p.m. shooting on 24th Street near Cecil B. Moore Avenue, police said. He was pronounced dead at 10:20 at the Medical College of Pennsylvania. Ernest Hammond, 20, was wounded in his left arm and left cheek, police said. Hammond flagged down a car and was taken to a relative's house on 28th Street near Thompson.

Two men and a 14-year-old boy were wounded in a drive-by shooting Tuesday afternoon in the Southwark section of South Philadelphia, police said. The three victims were standing on the corner at Fifth and Pierce Streets when someone in a vehicle opened fire about 3:25 p.m., police said. Police took the teen, who was shot once in the left leg, to Thomas Jefferson University Hospital. Two 52-year-old men were both shot in the right ankle; medics took them to Jefferson. All were listed in stable condition.

A sometime street-corner rapper from North Philadelphia has been found guilty of third-degree murder by a Philadelphia jury in a 2009 drive-by shooting that mistakenly killed a Housing Authority carpenter. Jamaal "Steel" Simmons, 28, was found guilty Wednesday by a Common Pleas Court jury in the July 25, 2009, incident that mortally wounded Rodney Barnes, a 46-year-old father of four and a minister at Mount Airy Church of God in Christ. Judge Carolyn Engel Temin set sentencing for March 14. The prosecutor, Assistant District Attorney Mark Gilson, said he would seek the maximum prison term of 50 to 100 years.

Two men were in critical condition Friday after being caught in the cross fire of a drive-by shooting in the Mantua section of the city, police said. Passengers in two cars driving near 41st and Parrish Streets opened fire on each other just before 9 p.m. An 81-year-old man standing near the corner received a bullet wound to the head. A 69-year-old man in a wheelchair nearby was shot in an arm and his back. Investigators do not believe either was the intended target of an attack.

AJUDGE took the rare step yesterday of allowing former NBA player Javaris Crittenton, charged with murder in a drive-by shooting, to go free on $230,000 bond after hearing friends and coaches testify that he was too focused on making a comeback to squander his future on a revenge killing. Prosecutors said they feared Crittenton could threaten witnesses who implicated him in the Aug. 19 shooting death of 22-year-old Julian Jones in Atlanta. Police said Crittenton was retaliating for being robbed of $55,000 worth of jewelry when Jones was mistakenly hit by gunfire while standing outside her house.

STEVEN "GORILLA" Mondevergine, once the baddest guy in the biker world, pleaded guilty yesterday to aggravated assault and firearms offenses for shooting and stabbing a rival Pagans leader three years ago. Mondevergine, 56, fat and slovenly in a sleeveless white shirt that showed off arms riddled with tattoos, was sentenced by Common Pleas Judge Earl Trent to three to 10 years in state prison as part of a negotiated plea deal. Deputy District Attorney Brian Grady withdrew an attempted-murder charge in exchange for the plea.

A drive-by shooting at a North Philadelphia playground put a teenager in the hospital Friday afternoon, according to police. The 18-year-old was in the East Poplar Playground on the 800 block of North Ninth Street when a burgundy car with tinted windows drove by and someone inside fired into the park, said Officer Jillian Russell, spokeswoman for the Philadelphia police. The teen was grazed by a bullet and released that day, she said. The shooter remains at large, and police have no description.

1THREE SHOT IN DRIVE-BY Three men were wounded in a drive-by shooting last night in the city's East Frankford section, police said. A man driving a white Buick Century opened fire about 7 p.m. in the 1600 block of Dyre Street and struck three men in their legs, police said. The car was last seen heading toward Frankford Avenue. Two men, 18 and 21, were taken to Temple University Hospital. A third man, 25, was taken to Aria Health's Torresdale hospital. All were in stable condition.

Three men were wounded in a drive-by shooting Tuesday evening in the city's Frankford section, police said. According to witnesses, the gunman was driving a white Buick Century when he opened fire around 7 p.m. in the 1600 block of Dyre Street and struck the three victims in the legs, police said. The Buick was last seen heading toward Frankford Avenue. Two men, ages 18 and 21, were taken to Temple University Hospital. The third, 25, was transported to Aria Health Torresdale Campus.

Lawrence Lewis did the right thing. Charged as the driver in a 2007 drive-by shooting in Southwest Philadelphia that killed Jaquin Lindsay, 18, Lewis immediately told police what he thought had happened, pleaded guilty, and testified for the prosecution in the trial of the alleged shooter, Troy Stokes. Stokes, 20, was acquitted by a Common Pleas Court jury June 10 and left the city's Criminal Justice Center that day, a free man. Lewis, 23, was sentenced Friday to a negotiated prison term of nine to 18 years, based on his guilty plea to third-degree murder and conspiracy.