2 men will be charged in Philadelphia mass shooting, DA’s office says
PHILADELPHIA — Two men have been taken into custody in connection with the mass shooting on South Street in Philadelphia, including an 18-year-old who prosecutors say fired a homemade “ghost” gun into a crowd Saturday night and was one of several gunmen in a melee that left three people dead and 11 wounded.
Police took that man, Quron Garner, into custody shortly after the shooting, when he ran off after a police officer who saw him firing shot him. Garner was crying out, “They shot my hand off,” when police took him into custody. He is now hospitalized, and is expected to be charged with attempted murder, aggravated assault and other offenses.
Law enforcement sources said police Monday night arrested a second man who they say took part in a brawl that sparked the entire violent episode. Prosecutors said this man, whom sources have not named, went to the aid of a gunman who was shot to death by another man in an exchange of gunfire Saturday night.
They said the man whom they arrested Monday had spirited the gun away from his dying companion, and then disappeared into the South Street throng. He is expected to face similar charges to those faced by Garner.
The gunfire claimed more victims than any single episode of gun violence in the city in at least seven years, and kept a spotlight on Philadelphia’s shootings crisis.
District Attorney Larry Krasner called the crime “horrific and senseless.” Deputy District Attorney Joanne Pescatore, Krasner’s homicide chief, said surveillance video appeared to show it beginning as a spontaneous encounter between two groups.
Pescatore told reporters at an afternoon news conference that police and prosecutors had reviewed a variety of videos from the scene to try to piece together what happened.
The videos appeared to show a confrontation between groups of men on the 200 block of South Street just before 11:30 p.m., she said. One group included Gregory Jackson, 34, a former professional boxer and youth coach, while the other included Micah Towns, 23, whom Pescatore said was also a boxer. Both men were armed and had carry permits for firearms.
It was not clear what their beef was about, Pescatore said, or if any of the men had known each other before their paths crossed that night. But the encounter quickly grew hostile. Jackson and another man walked toward Towns in a threatening manner, Pescatore said, and Jackson appeared to draw a handgun.
As Jackson and his friend began beating Towns, pushing him back into a storefront, Jackson fired his gun, striking Towns in the body and leaving him critically wounded.
Towns, laying flat in the street, was able to shoot back, killing Jackson.
Jackson’s friend then tried to tend to his wounds.
Meanwhile, moments later and across the street, as people nearby started to panic, the 18-year-old, Garner, began firing shots from a homemade gun into the crowd. Garner appeared to have been allied with Towns before the brawl, Pescatore said. But the shots he fired came after the fight had mostly subsided, and it was not clear at whom he was shooting.
Amid the chaos, police arrived, and one officer noticed Garner firing his weapon. The officer returned fire, striking Garner in the hand and causing him to drop the gun and run away.