Homicide detectives have two crime scenes, two victims, a gun, a bunch of spent shells, a bundle of marijuana and a wad of cash, but they also have a lot of unanswered questions about the slaying of one man and wounding of another in Crescentville last Wednesday.
Gunfire erupted in the area of Cheltenham and Rising Sun avenues at about 11 p.m. Police found a 20-year-old man with a back wound near Rising Sun and Alcott Street, then found a second victim in his 20s with wounds of the chest and back about two blocks south on Cheltenham.
The second victim died at the scene, but the 20-year-old survived and told investigators a tale about what had happened. He said that he and a friend were walking along Cheltenham Avenue when someone began shooting at them from the direction of Colgate Street. The targets split up with the 20-year-old running north on Bingham to Alcott Street, that’s where the gunman caught up to him and shot him, he said. Paramedics took the wounded man to Albert Einstein Medical Center in stable condition.
Police don’t think that the dead man was the 20-year-old’s friend. Police found him unresponsive in the street with a gun by his side. They also found a half-dozen empty shells on the block, as well as cash and marijuana bags near the Alcott Street shooting scene.
Police have not disclosed the identities of anyone involved in the case, which remains under investigation. ••
