Fake grenade causes school scare in S. Philly

1FAKE GRENADE CAUSES SCHOOL SCARE

A student who brought a fake hand grenade to the Philadelphia Performing Arts Charter School, in South Philadelphia, early yesterday prompted officials to evacuate the school, on Broad Street near Oregon Avenue. The student brought the grenade in to show to friends, according to a district spokesman, but it was found on the sidewalk in front of the school. Police were called and students and faculty were taken to nearby A.S. Jenks Elementary School, on 13th Street near Moyamensing Avenue. Once the grenade was found to be a fake, the charter-school students and teachers returned to school just before 9 a.m.

2MAN SHOT AFTER ROBBERY

A South Philadelphia man was clinging to life after an armed robber shot him in the head early yesterday on Reed Street near 19th, police said.

The victim, 22, was listed in extremely critical condition yesterday at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, where he was taken after the 2:30 a.m. shooting, said Capt. Laurence Nodiff, of South Detectives. Officers on patrol heard gunshots and found the victim, Nodiff said. The gunman fled on foot.

Anyone with information about this case is asked to call detectives at 215-686-3013.

3DEVELOPER FACES 23 COUNTS

Developer R. Bruce Fazio knew about defects in a condo building that he built in Norristown and tried to cover up problems that included fire stairs made of wood instead of metal and nonworking sprinklers, Montgomery County officials charged yesterday.

Fazio was arrested and charged with 23 counts of endangering another person and four counts of risking a catastrophe, among other charges, for the failed building, on Sandy Street near Kelly Drive, authorities said.

"He cut every conceivable construction corner . . . so that he could take the money for himself and, by doing that, he put these people's lives in jeopardy," said Montgomery County District Attorney Risa Vetri Ferman.

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STILL NO SIGN OF INMATE

Prison officials said they were still lacking the bits and pieces yesterday as to how inmate Kevin Turner vanished from Curran-Fromhold Correctional Facility on Tuesday morning.

Now it is believed that Turner, 22, escaped from a loading-dock area adjacent to the kitchen he worked in, said Robert Eskind, the public- information officer for the city prison system.

But there is no evidence of Turner leaving through the entrance, and surveillance footage does not show him leaving the building, Eskind said. Turner was being held on drug, firearm and burglary charges.

"We are treating it as if he escaped," said Capt. John McGinnis, of the Northeast Detectives division. "Hopefully we can find him."

SLAIN WOMAN IDENTIFIED

Police identified a woman stabbed to death in East Falls on Tuesday as Vera Skinner, 49, of South Philadelphia.

Skinner, of Bancroft Street near Wharton, was stabbed in the neck, chest and body about 4:20 p.m. inside a home on Scotts Lane near Ridge Avenue, police said. She died within the hour at Temple University Hospital. Police reported no suspects or motive. Tipsters can call homicide detectives at 215-686-3334 or -3335.

COPS: LAPTOP THIEF HAS HEROIN HABIT

The fifth-grade teacher charged Tuesday with stealing 42 laptops from the school where she worked may have done so to support a heroin habit, police said.

Kathleen Kremis, 35, a teacher at Ethan Allen Elementary, on Battersby Street near Harbison Avenue, in the Northeast, was arrested Tuesday along with Thomas Perry, 37, at Perry's home, on Miller Street near Venango, in Port Richmond.

Police were contacted in August by a pawn-shop owner who allegedly bought the laptops from Kremis and became concerned when he peeled away stickers that had been used to cover up labels stating that the machines were school-district property, police said. Kremis is suspended without pay.

- Staff reports