Security Guard

A Philadelphia man showing off what he thought was an unloaded gun the day before he was to start a job as a security guard accidentally shot a friend in the face and killed her, police said. Sandrea Smith, 35, of the 2900 block of North 26th Street, was shot once in the left cheek and died at the scene, according to police. The shooting occurred about 2:30 p.m. Saturday. The incident happened in a bedroom of a home in the 2100 block of East Somerset Street in Kensington.

A security guard at the Community College of Philadelphia was fired Tuesday after police found about $10,000 worth of the college's computer equipment in his Deptford home, a college spokeswoman said. Marjorie Osherow, the director of public relations for the college, declined to release the man's name but said he had been a full-time security guard at the school for the last eight years. He had a clean disciplinary record at the college, Osherow said, and was fired as a result of his involvement in the equipment theft.

An attempt to apprehend two suspected thieves from the John Wanamaker store in the Plaza at King of Prussia Mall led to one arrest and a store security officer's being hospitalized this week after he was struck by the getaway car. According to Upper Merion police, at 8:29 p.m. Saturday security officer John Hutelmyer saw two men cut the cable that held leather coats on a rack in the store's youth department. One of the men grabbed the jackets and both fled the store with Hutelmyer in pursuit.

Tasers: They're not just for zapping crazy Phillies fans anymore. Upper Darby police are searching for two thieves who waltzed into the Marshalls store on 69th Street on Christmas Eve, loaded up on merchandise, then electroshocked their way out the door when a plainclothes security guard tried to stop them. "They're seen stealing hundreds of dollars in clothing and putting it in a large shopping bag," said police Superintendent Michael Chitwood Sr. When the guard stepped in, one of the thieves pulled out a Taser.

Fred Bibbo interviewed Will Smith, Matt Damon and Charlize Theron last weekend. Fred Bibbo is a security guard at Comcast SportsNet. Is this picture fuzzy or what? Bibbo, 40, began his new "career" when Mark Jordan, CSN's executive producer of special projects, needed someone with wrestling knowledge to interview the stars of "Ready to Rumble. " Bibbo has been a pro wrestling fan since his younger days in Ridley Park. Jordan liked Bibbo's work so much that the two went to New York to chat with the stars of the new film, "The Legend of Bagger Vance.

The security guard sat in a chair by a desk in an office at Franklin Mills mall, despondent and bleeding from the head. "Is he dead?" asked the guard, 50-year-old William Haag, when a Philadelphia police officer entered the office. "Is he dead?" It was not yet dawn on Feb. 5, a clear, bitterly cold morning. A short distance from the office, the Franklin Mills security vehicle that Haag had been driving sat 35 feet down an embankment on the mall's fringe, battered and empty.

Anthony "Ant" Washington continued to insist yesterday that he did not kill a security guard while fleeing a holdup last year, but the prosecutor is so sure he did it, he's going to ask for the death penalty. "They have the wrong guy," said Washington, 25, to his lawyer, Jack M. Myers. "It's not me. " A Common Pleas Court jury thought otherwise. It convicted Washington yesterday of first-degree murder in the killing of Tracey Lawson, 29, a father of five, outside a Save-A-Lot market on Kensington Avenue near Cumberland Street, on Jan. 23, 1993.

A private security guard yesterday was ordered to stand trial on murder charges in the beating death of a Frankford woman inside a Mayfair warehouse on July 3. Assistant District Attorney John Carpenter withdrew charges of rape and indecent assault against Ricky Johnson, 29, during a hearing before Municipal Judge Lydia Y. Kirkland. Carpenter said he might seek a rearrest on the sex charges if medical reports confirm that Kimberly Golphin, 29, of Jackson Place near Foulkrod Street, was sexually molested as well as beaten to death inside the warehouse at Frankford Avenue and Glenview Street.

Joseph E. Hill Jr., 29, a 6-foot-6 security guard who said he "lost it" when he discovered that a toddler he was baby-sitting had soiled his pants, blinked back tears yesterday when a Common Pleas Court judge sentenced him to seven to 20 years in prison for fatally beating 23-month-old Lamar Mitchell in July 1993. Defense attorneys had asked for a sentence of less than three years, arguing that Hill was a hard-working, "kind, considerate and gentle person" with only one other brush with the law. But Common Pleas Court Judge James J. Fitzgerald 3d said that, in this case, "the court must balance between punishment and rehabilitation.

ELTON BRAND strode through the corridors of TD Garden dressed like a stockbroker, as amiable as a preacher. A security guard congratulated Brand on his exceptional effort in a losing cause. "Thanks," said Brand. "See you Saturday. " It was Monday. The Sixers had just lost Game 5. Brand was, in effect, assuring a Sixers win in Game 6 on Wednesday night. A return to Boston for a Game 7. Which meant that he would be a Sixer for one more game. Maybe more.

A drug overdose may have caused the death of a homeless man found early this morning on the steps of the Norristown Public Library, according to Montgomery County officials. Norristown Police Chief Russell Bono said a security guard making rounds at 7 a.m. found the 46-year-old man on the rear steps of the library at Powell and Swede Streets. The body was surrounded by empty drug packets, Bono said. Police were withholding the man's identity until his family could be located.

A Philadelphia man showing off what he thought was an unloaded gun the day before he was to start a job as a security guard accidentally shot a friend in the face and killed her, police said. Sandrea Smith, 35, of the 2900 block of North 26th Street, was shot once in the left cheek and died at the scene, according to police. The shooting occurred about 2:30 p.m. Saturday. The incident happened in a bedroom of a home in the 2100 block of East Somerset Street in Kensington.

It's not the money, it's the principle that has Cleveland closer Chris Perez riled. He's considering appealing a $750 fine from Major League Baseball for posting what they call a "reckless" message on his Twitter account after batters for both the Indians and Royals were hit by pitches, touching off two bench-clearing tussles last Saturday in Kansas City. To wit: "Huge team win tonight; time for a sweep to tell the Royals it's not 'Our Time', it's #TribeTime. P.S. You hit us, we hit you. Period.

Museum security guard Sulaiman Saidu-Kamara is not quite sure how to evaluate the tangle of emotions that he feels about Thursday's rally to organize security officers like himself. The noon rally at LOVE Park will, no doubt, be colorful. Any rally sponsored by the Service Employees International Union, SEIU Local 32BJ, will attract droves of union members in their signature purple shirts. Then too, it will be a star-studded gathering, at least in labor terms, because the state's top labor leaders, gathered for their state convention at a nearby hotel, plan to stop by for speechifying and solidarity.

CONSTITUTION guard Daiquan Walker was so excited for yesterday's Class A state semifinal against defending champion Math, Civics & Sciences Charter that he didn't sleep a wink Monday night. Going into halftime, he wished he had. Walker, who with star forward Savon Goodman is part of a dangerous scoring tandem for the Generals, went 0-for-6 in the first half, with his only two points coming on free throws. But sleep wasn't the only thing missing. "I had the wrong shoes," he said.

SANTO Mancuso, convicted of killing a prostitute in 1990, was held for trial yesterday in a second slaying. Mancuso allegedly repeatedly stabbed Joseph Testa in the chest just minutes after this year began, authorities said. Testa, 77, a well-liked retired security guard, was attacked shortly after he left his South Philadelphia home to investigate a shouting match on Jessup Street near Ritner. When Testa tried to break things up between his nephew and Mancuso and another man, the defendant allegedly stabbed Testa.

IT WASN'T unusual to find Clinton B. Horton Jr. polishing his car. That simple act reflected Clinton's nature, a spic-and-span kind of guy who kept not only his car, but his home and his personal appearance neat and clean. "He was very tidy about everything," said his brother, Michael. "He was a good guy, a hard worker, and we came from a hard-working family. " Clinton Horton, a security guard for Brink's armored-car service for 25 years, a SEPTA driver for 23 years, and a leader in the Masons, died of leukemia Feb. 27. He was 70 and lived in Mount Airy.

Charles N. Gibson, 79 of Downingtown, a Tredyffrin Township police officer from 1961 to 1991, died Saturday, Jan. 28, of advanced emphysema at Pocopson Home, a health-care facility in West Chester. Born in Rosemont, he graduated from Radnor High School in 1951, worked for the Acme Markets store in Wayne, and began his police career as a dispatcher in the Tredyffrin radio room. His wife, Diane, said that, after deciding to be a patrolman, he graduated from the Philadelphia Police Academy.