‘It is what it looks like’

18-year-old arrested in Chester gunshot slaying

A Chester man has been arrested and jailed in the gunshot slaying of a 24-year-old man in the city on April 4 in the area of Fourth and Reaney streets.

Donnie Studstill, 18, of the 200 block of Gray Street, was committed to the George W. Hill Correctional Facility on first-degree murder and related assault and weapons offenses in the killing of TaQuan Bradley-Chambers.

Among the first things that Studstill told police was, “I probably deserve to be in cuffs. It is what it looks like,” police said.

According to Chester Detective Brian Pot and Delaware County Detective Mark Monaghan:

On April 4 about 07:20 a.m., city officers were dispatched to the 300 block of Reaney Street for the report of shots fired.

When officers arrived, they discovered an abandoned Ford Focus parked on the southeast corner of Fourth and Reaney. The car was running with the windshield wipers on, both doors open on the passenger side, numerous fired cartridge casings on the ground, a cellphone abandoned in the street, and an additional cellphone abandoned on the rear seat of the vehicle.

A search of the tag revealed the owner as an 18-year-old Chester man.

Officers located BradleyChambers face down in a puddle of blood in the 1800 block of Union Street next to 313 Reaney St.

A crime scene was established that included 20 9 mm fired cartridge casings, 12 of which were labeled PPU, as well as a pistol magazine loaded with 16 rounds.

A preliminary ballistic examination determined that 17 of the fired cartridge casings were fired from the same unknown firearm, and the remaining three from a separate firearm.

The PPU-manufactured rounds were part of the 17 fired from the one firearm. Additional ballistic evidence was located.

While on scene, Chester police officers were notified that a second shooting victim, a 16-year-old, arrived at a nearby hospital by private vehicle. He suffered a gunshot wound to the right foot.

That vehicle, a Chevy Impala, was searched pursuant to consent from the owner.

Located in the back seat was a 30-round magazine containing 11 live 9 mm rounds along with a black satchel containing 5 live 9 mm rounds labeled PPU and two Pennsylvania IDs and a Social Security card belonging to Studstill.

Studstill had been transported in the same private vehicle as the 16-year-old. Studstill was transported back to the Chester Police Department to be interviewed, and it was during that trip that he said, “I probably deserve to be in cuffs. It is what it looks like.”

The Delaware County Medical Examiner’s Office ruled that Bradley-Chambers died of a gunshot wound to the chest and that the manner was a homicide.

Surveillance footage was recovered from the area of Fourth and Reaney.

The parked Focus heads north on Reaney toward West Sixth Street before 7 a.m. and is visible moving around in the area until it ends up parked where it was found by police.

Surveillance footage shows the victim arrive by vehicle in the 1800 block of West Fourth Street with a female. He gives the female a backpack before walking west on the north side of West Fourth. Bradley-Chambers crosses the street to the south side before walking south on Reaney Street and next to the passenger side of the Focus. The rear passenger door of the Focus is already open.

At that time, at least one individual dressed in black clothing emerges from the rear passenger side and gunshots are heard. That individual can be seen with their hands raised as if shooting a firearm in the direction where the decedent was found by police.

Other individuals can be seen running from the location where the shooting takes place, including the decedent, when the shooting occurs.

A forensic extraction was conducted via search warrant on the abandoned black Apple iPhone with a black case with an Apple sticker on it found in the Focus.

It was determined the phone belonged to the car owner. Location data on the phone puts the driver’s phone in the area at Fourth and Reaney, consistent with when the Ford Focus is seen in the video surveillance.

The last photo taken by that cellphone was at 6:55 a.m. on April 4, approximately 20 minutes before the homicide.

Studstill was arraigned Friday before District Judge James Merkins, with a preliminary hearing scheduled for May 1 before District Judge Shepard Garner.

The names of the other shooting victim and the car owner were provided by police, but it is unclear whether they have been charged in any way, so the Daily Times is withholding their names.