'Senseless killing' takes man active in community

Christopher Murphy and his cousin had just gotten off work at Temple University Hospital.

Murphy dropped his bag at his mother's house, nearby on North Seventh Street, and he and his cousin went for Chinese take-out.

It was their normal routine. They probably would have sat on the porch and eaten their meals, enjoying a warm summer night.

Instead, two gunmen accosted them around 2 a.m. yesterday, less than a block from Murphy's home.

Despite giving up their money and jewelry - and even their food - one of the robbers shot Murphy in the head, killing the 23-year-old.

"This is truly, truly an innocent victim," said Homicide Capt. James Clark. "It's just a sad and senseless killing."

The shooting was made even more tragic because Murphy had been raised to avoid the kind of trouble that plagues the city's streets, his family said.

He had been taught the value of education and hard work. He had been given morals grounded in his church, where his grandfather is pastor, and mentored by a large extended family.

"His goal in life was to be a philanthropist and give back to his community, to young black boys in trouble," said Murphy's mother, Karen Leonard. "This was a senseless act of murder. He was a doer, a giver."

Murphy graduated from Girard College in 2004 and spent two years at West Chester University. He played keyboards and drums at his grandfather's church, West Side Church of God, where he also coached youth basketball.

He was so involved in school activities and youth ministries that his family lost track of them all.

Leonard said her son was transferring to Temple University and working as an orderly at the hospital. He had leased his own apartment and was set to move in today.

"Another dream not fulfilled, but so close," said Stephen Pierce, his uncle.

Pierce contrasted his nephew with the two young suspects, who remain at large.

"We raised them and counseled them and talked to them to avoid things like this," he said. "You don't treat people like this. You don't take from them. You want something, you work for it."

As for the suspects, he blamed "parents being derelict in raising their kids."

"This is what they turn out to be," he said. "They don't understand the value or worth of another person's life."

The suspects were both described as black males about 20 years old, both wearing blue jeans and white T-shirts, Clark said. One carried a silver revolver, the other a black semiautomatic handgun.

The suspects accosted Murphy and his cousin in the 700 block of West Cecil B. Moore Avenue, and fled north on North Franklin Street. They may have been riding mountain bikes before the shooting, Clark said.

Murphy exchanged no words with the gunmen and did nothing to provoke the shooting, he said.

Murphy's cousin was not harmed - physically.

"I'm not going to say he's OK, because you're not OK when you see something like that," Pierce said. "He's walking around in shock."

After the shooting, the cousin ran back to Murphy's house and banged on the door, awaking Leonard. She thought they had forgotten the keys until he yelled that her only son had been shot.

"I never want to hear another woman scream like that in the dark hours of the night," Pierce said.

Anyone with information on the suspects should call the Homicide Unit at 215-686-3334, -3335 or -3336, or call the tipline at 215-686-TIPS.