Alleged gunman in Darby robbery, homicide waives prelim hearing
Allegedly shot 19-year-old, rifled through victim’s pockets
A Darby man accused in the May 24 shooting death of 19-year-old Symir Lee waived a preliminary hearing Wednesday on murder and related charges.
Imeen Warren-Thornton, 19, of the 600 block of Pine Street, is charged with criminal homicide; first-, second- and thirddegree murder; robbery; conspiracy and firearms offenses in the fatal shooting on the 200 block of North Ninth Street.
According to an affidavit of probable cause for Warren-Thornton’s arrest written by Darby Patrolman David Cuddhy:
Police were dispatched to the area about 8 p.m. for reports of a shooting victim and found Lee bleeding from his mouth and struggling to breathe. Medics soon arrived and transported Lee to PennPresbyterian Hospital.
Lee succumbed to his injuries on June 1 and an autopsy found he died from a single gunshot wound. His death was ruled a homicide.
Detective Anthony Salvatore spoke to a witness who said they saw Lee walking on Ninth Street toward Cedar Lane when two males ran up to him from behind. The witness described one of the males as taller, wearing a red hooded sweatshirt, and the other wearing a black hooded sweatshirt.
The witness said the male wearing the red shirt shot Lee once, then both suspects rifled through his pockets and ran off toward Marks Avenue.
Police recovered one .40-caliber casing in front of a home on the block and a blue iPhone belonging to Lee a short distance away on the sidewalk. Investigators also found two bikes behind a home on North Ninth Street, which were swabbed for DNA evidence.
Investigators were able to track the suspects’ movements using video surveillance from several areas, beginning just prior to the murder, when they both emerged from an alleyway on the even side of North Ninth.
After the shooting, the two males could be seen in other footage fleeing from Marks Avenue onto Cedar Avenue, then heading behind a CVS, down a hill to a Santander Bank and onto the 200 block of MacDade Boulevard in Yeadon. During this period, police identified the red sweatshirt as having a Coca-Cola logo on the front.
The last video of the suspects shows them hoping
a stone wall into Holy Cross Cemetery, where police later recovered the red sweatshirt. The sweatshirt had two pairs of latex gloves inside.
The sweatshirt and other items were submitted for DNA analysis, which identified WarrenThornton as a contributor on the shirt in October.
Police tracked down leads and arrested Warren-Thornton in Yeadon in December.
Darby Police Chief Joe Gabe said at that time that Warren-Thornton was also wanted for several commercial robberies in and around the borough after the shooting, including an armed robbery of a Dollar General on Oct. 26.
Gabe said Wednesday that Lee’s shooting remains an open and active investigation with regard to the second suspect.
Warren-Thornton meanwhile remains in custody at the county jail in Concord without bail. He is scheduled for formal arraignment April 3 at the County Courthouse in Media.