Ski Mask

A 22-year-old Camden man wearing a ski mask was shot to death early yesterday by a man in a red car in what authorities believe might have been a botched robbery attempt. Earl Vincent Baker was fatally shot at Sixth and Spruce Streets in South Camden shortly after 2 a.m, according to Camden County Prosecutor Edward F. Borden Jr. He was pronounced dead at 2:56 a.m. at Cooper Hospital-University Medical Center. Investigators and witnesses said Baker was wearing a ski mask and a down jacket.

Two similar armed robberies - in which the gunman wore a ski mask and escaped with an undisclosed amount of cash - occurred at two businesses on Edgmont Avenue in the last few days, Police Chief John Eller said. About 8:30 p.m. Sunday, police said, a gunman held up the owner of the Pizza Party restaurant in the 4200 block of Edgmont Avenue. The owner told police that he was seated in the rear booth of the restaurant when he felt a gun against his head and turned to see a man wearing a ski mask, police said.

He was a charming, good looking robber, and the two female workers at the supermarket said they were so impressed they couldn't forget his face. "He was cute," testified both of the employees before Tyrone Barnes, 21, of Cosgrove Street near Germantown Avenue, was convicted yesterday of robbery and related charges by Common Pleas Judge Anthony J. DeFino. Sentencing was deferred. "He may have been a hit with the women, but he flunked out as a robber," said Assistant District Attorney Elizabeth Greenfield.

An unidentified man robbed the collection plate during Mass at St. Andrew Roman Catholic Church in Drexel Hill yesterday morning. With a ski mask and sunglasses covering his face, the man burst into the church as a 16-year-old altar boy was taking the collection plate into the rectory, said Upper Darby Township Police Superintendent Michael J. Chitwood. The robber then ran out of the church in the direction of a trolley stop half a block away, according to several eyewitnesses.

Eight months before her murder, a terrified Nicole Brown Simpson called the Los Angeles Police Department after O.J. Simpson smashed down the back door to her home and launched into a threatening tirade laced with profanity. A recording of the Oct. 25 episode was released yesterday. "My ex-husband has just broken into my house and he's ranting and raving outside in the front yard," Nicole Simpson tells a police dispatcher. A voice identified as O.J. Simpson's can be heard shouting obscenities as his ex-wife pleaded with him to leave and not to disturb their two young children, who were sleeping upstairs.

Camden residents David Bullard, 27, and Shakara Colbert, 23, were arrested Thursday in connection with a fatal shooting in the city this month, authorities said. Bullard is accused of shooting Gary Boggs around 4 p.m. on May 3 on the 1600 block of Pulaski Street, according to the Camden County Prosecutor's Office and Camden Police. Colbert allegedly drove Bullard from the scene in a minivan. About two hours after the incident, the van was stopped at Eighth and Jefferson Streets with Bullard in the driver's seat, according to authorities.

Wearing a ski mask against the cold, Bobby Hudson of Absecon, N.J., awaits the start of yesterday's Forte Systems A to Z Run for Wildlife, from the New Jersey State Aquarium to the Philadelphia Zoo.

Two men broke into a house in Whitpain Township in Montgomery County early Saturday morning, police said. They entered through a rear door and headed to the master bedroom, where the homeowner confronted them. One of the intruders was wearing a ski mask. Both carried handguns. After a brief struggle, the homeowner shot at the men three times and chased them out of the house. They escaped. Police could not say when the shots were fired or what gun was used. Anyone with information about the incident is asked to contact township detectives at 610-279-9033.

JERSEY CITY , N.J. - Jersey City police say an accused carjacker was captured after a picture he took of himself with the victim's cellphone was automatically forwarded to her computer. Omar Richardson, 18, was arrested this week. He remained jailed yesterday on $100,000 bail on armed robbery charges. Police said the 20-year-old victim was carjacked Jan. 29 by a man wearing a ski mask who also stole her phone. The woman had a phone app that automatically sends all its pictures to her computer.

Police are investigating a robbery in which two South Philadelphia boys were threatened and bound by gun-wielding thieves. At 6:40 p.m. Monday, police said, two men rang the door bell at the Kham- Len Shoppe, 2001 Snyder Ave. One wore a black ski mask and carried a small black semiautomatic pistol. Two brothers, ages 12 and 13, were inside the store and looked out the door window. One of the men told the boys he would kill them if they didn't open the door, police said.

Camden residents David Bullard, 27, and Shakara Colbert, 23, were arrested Thursday in connection with a fatal shooting in the city this month, authorities said. Bullard is accused of shooting Gary Boggs around 4 p.m. on May 3 on the 1600 block of Pulaski Street, according to the Camden County Prosecutor's Office and Camden Police. Colbert allegedly drove Bullard from the scene in a minivan. About two hours after the incident, the van was stopped at Eighth and Jefferson Streets with Bullard in the driver's seat, according to authorities.

A 39-YEAR-OLD storeowner in West Oak Lane was almost ready to close up shop last night when a thug in a ski mask stormed into his corner store to rob it and shot him twice in the process. The owner was working behind the counter of Super Chicken Grocery, at Haines and Rodney streets, when the gunman entered the store just before 7:30 and reached over the counter into the cash register, Chief Inspector Scott Small said. A struggle ensued, Small said, and the storeowner was shot once in the right side of his chest and once in his arm. Police took him to Albert Einstein Medical Center, where he underwent surgery and remained in critical condition in intensive care about 10 p.m. The victim's 16-year-old son and 18-year-old nephew looked on as police combed the scene.

JERSEY CITY , N.J. - Jersey City police say an accused carjacker was captured after a picture he took of himself with the victim's cellphone was automatically forwarded to her computer. Omar Richardson, 18, was arrested this week. He remained jailed yesterday on $100,000 bail on armed robbery charges. Police said the 20-year-old victim was carjacked Jan. 29 by a man wearing a ski mask who also stole her phone. The woman had a phone app that automatically sends all its pictures to her computer.

Police arrested a murder suspect Friday who investigators think may be connected to the execution-style killing of a North Philadelphia store clerk last week. Jorge Aldea, 23, was apprehended in New York City on Friday in the killing of Louis Chevere, 22, who was shot dead in North Philadelphia last year, police said. Investigators had interviewed Reyna Aguirre Alonso about that killing, thinking she might have witnessed it from her apartment window above the Caribe Mini Market, where she worked the cash register.

Homicide detectives are investigating whether a North Philadelphia store clerk was killed Monday night because she was a potential witness in a murder investigation, police sources said Tuesday. Rosemary Fernandez-Rivera had been interviewed numerous times by police as a possible witness in the killing of a man two months ago outside the Caribe Mini Market at Mutter and Westmoreland Streets, where she worked the cash register, said police sources and the woman's family. The 33-year-old Mexican immigrant lived alone above the store, and investigators believed she witnessed the slaying of Louis Chevere, 22, from her apartment window.

Police in Whitpain Township have arrested one of two men they say broke into a house in the 700 block of Danbury Drive early Saturday and threatened the homeowner with handguns. In a statement Monday afternoon, investigators identified the suspect as Brian Keith Walters, 37, of Worcester, Montgomery County, and said he had been arrested in connection with the robbery. They gave no further details. District Court records showed that Walters was charged early Monday with robbery, burglary, criminal trespass, aggravated assault, reckless endangerment, and terrorizing another person.

Police in Whitpain Township have arrested one of two men they say broke into a home in the 700 block of Danbury Drive early Saturday morning and threatened the homeowner with handguns. In a statement released Monday afternoon, investigators identified the suspect as Brian Keith Walters, 37, of Worcester, Montgomery County, and said he was arrested in connection with the robbery, but they declined to give further details. District Court records, however, showed that Walters was formally charged early Monday with robbery, burglary, criminal trespass, aggravated assault, reckless endangerment and terrorizing another.

Police said a homeowner in Whitpain Township, Montgomery Country, fired three shots at two men who had broken into the home early Saturday. Investigators said the men entered the house through a rear door and headed to the master bedroom, where the homeowner confronted them. One of the intruders wore a ski mask, and both carried handguns, police said. After a brief struggle, the homeowner shot at the men three times and chased them out of the house. They escaped. Police could not say when the shots were fired or what gun was used.

Two men broke into a house in Whitpain Township in Montgomery County early Saturday morning, police said. They entered through a rear door and headed to the master bedroom, where the homeowner confronted them. One of the intruders was wearing a ski mask. Both carried handguns. After a brief struggle, the homeowner shot at the men three times and chased them out of the house. They escaped. Police could not say when the shots were fired or what gun was used. Anyone with information about the incident is asked to contact township detectives at 610-279-9033.