Stray Bullet

A bullet fired by a gunman during a chase in South Philadelphia yesterday struck a bystander in the head while he was playing with a small boy on a front step, police said. Marshall Woodward, 25, of South Philadelphia, was in stable condition at Graduate Hospital last night. The 16-month-old boy with him was not hurt, police said. A second man, the target of the gunman, was listed in stable but guarded condition at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. Police identified him as Charles Johnson, 24, of South Philadelphia.

A 58-year-old woman was shot in the face by a stray bullet while laying in bed inside her home in the city's East Germantown section Friday afternoon, police said. Shortly before 3 p.m. in the 5800 block of Morton Street, a bullet struck her second-floor bedroom window, pierced her chin and lodged near her spine, said Lt. George McClay of Northwest Detectives. About a block away, two armed males had opened fire on a silver Nissan on traveling on Morton Street, McClay said.

For the second time in 10 weeks, a grandmother has been hit by a stray bullet in Chester. Andrea Lee, 64, had parked near her home on 7th Street near Yarnall about 4:20 p.m. Saturday and was getting out of her car when a bullet from a nearby shootout struck her in the back, according to police. She was rushed to Crozer Chester Medical Center, where she was listed in critical condition yesterday. "This woman appears to be an innocent victim of a shooting between two groups of persons," Chester Police Capt.

Don't feel sorry for Jeremiah Hill. He is with the Lord now, his wife said. A stray bullet flew through his bedroom window Thursday night and struck him in the back, police said. When his wife, Brenda, returned from a trip to Japan, she found her devoutly religious husband of 30 years lying in a pool of his blood on their bedroom floor, she said. But yesterday, Brenda Hill was fighting back the tears. "He's gone to a better place where there is no pain," Brenda Hill said.

Nafes Johnson saw the drugs and violence all around him as he grew up in South Philadelphia - and he wanted nothing to do with it. The aspiring minister and drama student even wrote and produced a play while he was at Parkway Gamma High School called "No Weapons. " And yet it was a stray gunshot on the streets of South Philadelphia that killed the 19-year-old Johnson late Friday night - as he was riding home from a church revival. Yesterday, Johnson's grandmother, Doris Johnson, along with his mother and other family and friends, sat around the grandmother's darkened first-floor living room and struggled to come to grasp the irony of a good kid's murder.

A 43-year-old woman was hit by a stray bullet as she sat on a neighbor's porch Friday in North Philadelphia, police said. About 6:15 p.m. in the 2600 block of Silver Street, the woman was struck by a bullet that went through her left arm and wounded her in the chest, Chief Inspector Scott Small said. The woman was in stable condition Friday night at Temple University Hospital. - Robert Moran

A 13-year-old girl was seriously wounded yesterday by a stray bullet fired through a window of her home in the Tioga section of North Philadelphia, police said. The bullet, from a .357 magnum, apparently was fired by accident during a quarrel between a neighbor and a teenager outside the girl's home, police said. The victim, Adela Wilson, was in her living room about 3:40 p.m. when the bullet came through a front window and struck her in the left hip and abdomen, according to police and neighbors.

The rear window of a Philadelphia School District bus carrying handicapped students was shattered by a stray bullet that came from the direction of two vehicles whose occupants were having a shoot-out yesterday afternoon, police said. No one was seriously injured in the 3:10 p.m. incident near 48th and Sansom Streets. Two people on the bus received minor injuries from flying glass fragments, police said. An investigator at the West Detective Division said the bus was transporting seven students - ranging in age from 6 to 20 and all users of wheelchairs or crutches - from Widener Memorial School, at Broad Street and Olney Avenue, when an Eagle Premier and a Ford pickup truck stopped behind the bus. Two occupants of the Premier got into an argument with the pickup driver and started shooting, police said.

A Camden man wanted for fatally shooting another Camden resident at a fast food restaurant three weeks ago was arrested last night and will be arraigned today, authorities said. David Porrata, 33, allegedly killed Franklin Parker, 36, on April 27 at a Crown Fried Chicken on the 200 block of Broadway, the Camden County Prosecutor's Office said. The shooting, which began as an altercation between Porrata, his friend and a group of other men about 5 a.m., was captured on the store's surveillance video.

Suspect is named in fatal Camden shooting An arrest warrant has been issued in connection with a Friday morning homicide at a downtown Camden restaurant. David Porrata, 33, of Camden, is wanted in the slaying of Franklin Parker, 36, also of Camden, the Camden County Prosecutor's Office announced Monday. A 22-year-old Camden man also was injured in the shooting. The altercation broke out about 5 a.m. at the Crown Fried Chicken on the corner of Broadway and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard among a man with a gun, his friend, and a group of other men, according to the Prosecutor's Office.

A 36-year-old Camden man, who police say was a bystander, was shot and killed early Friday inside a Camden chicken restaurant. Another man, a 22-year-old Camden resident, was shot in the incident. According to the Camden County Prosecutor's Office, an altercation broke out at the Crown Fried Chicken about 5 a.m. between the shooter, his friend, and a group of other men. The homicide victim, whose name has not been released, was sitting in a booth with a woman during the fight. Once the incident turned violent, the pair attempted to escape, and the man was struck by a stray bullet.

Inside the VR Mini Market on Friday morning, the shooting of Keisha Palmer played on the security television screen. The 38-year-old West Philadelphia mother of three had been shot on the sidewalk Thursday night after buying some groceries - struck in the head by a stray bullet fired in what seems to be a dispute between young men in the neighborhood, police said. The market, at 59th and Master Streets, is just down the street from Palmer's home. She was a minute's walk from her porch when the gunfire erupted and a .45-caliber bullet entered above her left eyebrow and exited the side of her head.

A 58-year-old woman was struck in the face by a stray bullet while in bed in her home in the city's East Germantown section Friday afternoon, police said. Shortly before 3 p.m. in the 5800 block of Morton Street, a bullet struck her second-floor bedroom window, pierced her chin, and lodged near her spine, said Lt. George McClay of the Northwest Detective Division. About a block away, two armed men had opened fire on a silver Nissan, McClay said. One of the 13 bullets intended for the driver instead hit the sleeping woman.

A 58-year-old woman was shot in the face by a stray bullet while laying in bed inside her home in the city's East Germantown section Friday afternoon, police said. Shortly before 3 p.m. in the 5800 block of Morton Street, a bullet struck her second-floor bedroom window, pierced her chin and lodged near her spine, said Lt. George McClay of Northwest Detectives. About a block away, two armed males had opened fire on a silver Nissan on traveling on Morton Street, McClay said.

Yvonne Carrington Payne and Carolyn Funches have cooked Thanksgiving dinners for the homeless, raised money for needy families, and set up a shelter for battered women. "We don't play around," said Carrington Payne, 70. "When people see us coming, they know we get things done. " Now, in what surely will be their toughest challenge, the Chester duo are taking on the gun lobby. Specifically, they want bar codes on bullets as a way of tracking killers and reducing gun violence.

A 22-year-old man was shot twice in the arm in East Mount Airy last night in an incident that left a SEPTA bus driver in the hospital after a stray bullet hit his windshield, sending shattered glass into his eyes. Shots rang out about 9:40 on Ogontz Avenue near 76th, police said. Witnesses said the shooting started in or around a Chinese takeout restaurant on the block. "If I remember correctly from when I was in the service, it was an automatic; it wasn't a pistol," said Mark Matthews, a retired police officer and Vietnam veteran who heard the shots from his home nearby.

POLICE HAVE identified the seven people killed over the weekend. Anyone with information on any of the cases is urged to call 215-686-3334. Police say that: 10 a.m. Friday - James Hall, 58, was killed by a stray bullet on York Avenue near 4th Street, in North Philadelphia that shooter Calvin Atkerson, 21, intended for another man, police said. Atkerson was charged with Hall's murder. 3:30 a.m. Saturday - Shari Harris, 23, was shot and killed during a robbery on 13th Street near Rising Sun Avenue in North Philadelphia.

Nine-year-old Jorge Cartagena, who lost his eyesight in June when he was hit by a stray bullet on a Camden street, will benefit from a fund-raiser to be held from 6 to 9 p.m. Thursday at Millennium Skate World, 1900 Carman St., Camden. Half of the $5 admission will go toward the cost of skate rentals; the rest will go to a fund for Jorge. He starts Thursday at Bankbridge Elementary School in Sewell, Gloucester County. To see photos, video, and a previous Inquirer story about Jorge, go to: www.philly.com/jorge . - April Saul