Tynira Moses, 23, originally told police a man tried to rob her at gunpoint, but later admitted she fabricated the story.
You could say a Holmesburg woman employed a version of the Godfather alibi after she allegedly shot herself in the leg while mishandling a gun inside Russo Park last month.
When police responded to the emergency call just before 5 p.m. on May 26, they quickly found a handgun on the ground near the wounded woman, Lt. Dennis Rosenbaum of Northeast Detectives said. The victim, 23, initially claimed that a man tried to rob her at gunpoint, shot her and left the weapon behind as he fled. The incident occurred at the rear of the park near a recreation building along Edmund Street.
But investigators were skeptical. From experience, they know armed hoodlums rarely ditch their weapons at crime scenes in plain sight. That only happens in the movies.
Paramedics took the wounded woman to Aria-Jefferson Health’s Torresdale Campus, where she was treated for non-life-threatening injuries and released. When detectives questioned her further, she allegedly admitted that she fabricated the robbery story to cover her own culpability.
She was arrested on May 27 and charged with violating Pennsylvania’s Uniform Firearms Act and related offenses. Police identified her as Tynira Moses of the 4700 block of Loring St. She remains in prison in lieu of $50,000 bail and awaits a June 13 preliminary hearing.
Court records show it was not Moses’ first arrest. In May 2015, police locked her up for misdemeanor drug trafficking. She was later convicted and sentenced to two years probation. That case overlapped with an earlier drug trafficking arrest which resulted in another misdemeanor conviction and 18-month probation.
In July 2013, Moses was arrested for drug trafficking. The case was directed to treatment court, where she pleaded no contest. After she failed to show up for a later court appearance, a judge ordered her to serve a weekend in jail and perform community service.
Two months earlier, police arrested her for disorderly conduct/fighting. She pleaded guilty to the summary offense and was fined. ••
William Kenny can be reached at 215–354–3031 or wkenny@bsmphilly.com. Follow the Times on Twitter @NETimesOfficial.
