Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
Police honored by DA
Coatesville cops received commendation for arrest, conviction of Lenn ‘Butter’ Tucker in a 1st-degree murder case
COATESVILLE » Police received a District Attorney’s Commendation for solving a homicide that occurred less than a block away from the Benner School, where police were recognized on Monday.
Chester County District Attorney Tom Hogan said the Coatesville police officers who investigated the shooting death of a
homeless man had cared enough to solve his homicide. Hogan said that some people would have asked, who cares that a homeless person was killed in a “high drug, high crime area?” He said the Coatesville police had a tough job finding and interviewing people who were in the area when victim was killed at about 6 a.m.
“They have good relationships with people on the street here in Coatesville,” Hogan said about the police.
Hogan noted that most of the city is covered by video surveillance, either by police or a private citizen, an initiative that Chief John “Jack” Laufer began when he became the top cop in 2013. The shooting, near a backyard lot along Diamond Alley in the city’s East End, was captured on surveillance. The victim walked down the alley and turned to see someone following him.
“That person pulled out a gun and without a second thought, he shot the homeless man and then stood over top of him and finished him off,” Hogan said. “It was a cold-blooded assassination.”
The video wasn’t clear enough for the police to see the suspect’s face. Through the investigation, they learned that the alleged shooter’s nickname is “Butter.” The Chester County Detectives assisted Coatesville police and together they identified the suspect as Lenn T. Tucker. Police arrested Tucker a month after the Aug. 26, 2016 shooting death of Alex Hartzell, 24, of Pottstown. Hartzell was known to frequent homeless shelters in Coatesville.
It was the third of seven homicides in Coatesville that year. Hogan said he heard from the public that they didn’t think that the killer would be found.
“It was outstanding work by the Coatesville Police Department,” said Hogan, who added that the police were persistent in the investigation to seek justice.
Laufer said the investigation was a team effort within the department and the county detectives, as well as the DA’s office, from the initial report of shots fired and finding a deceased man in that area, through the arrest and the trial.
“The work doesn’t stop after the arrest is made,” Laufer said about getting the case ready for trial.
Witnesses told police that Tucker allegedly sold drugs in the area of Seventh Avenue and Diamond Street. During the trial, the prosecution, led by Chief Deputy District Attorney Ronald Yen and Assistant District Attorney Tanner Jacobs, said that Tucker, an alleged drug dealer, and Hartzell, reportedly had a dispute about a drug deal shortly before the shooting.
Yen noted that the trial occurred in less than a year from the homicide and that the jury took about an hour to convict Tucker in July of first-degree murder, possession of an instrument of crime, and firearms violations. He is awaiting sentencing. The first-degree murder conviction carries with it a mandatory term of life behind bars without the possibility of parole.
Hogan praised the police for solving the murder case. He also thanked them for their efforts to prevent more crimes from occurring and for their proactive community policing outreach efforts. Coatesville police investigated one homicide this year and made an arrest the next day.
Visit Daily Local News staff writer Ginger Rae Dunbar’s blog about journalism and volunteering as a firefighter at FirefighterGinger. blogspot.com.