2 fatally shot on W. Phila. street

A usually quiet street in West Philadelphia turned into a deadly corridor for two men late yesterday morning when they were fatally wounded by shotgun blasts.

The double murder was recorded among four homicides within 16 hours and drew the attention of Police Commissioner Charles H. Ramsey, who checked in with commanders at the crime scene.

"We have to stop this violence and this nonsense," Ramsey said while getting into his marked patrol cruiser at St. Bernard and 49th Streets, where the men were gunned down shortly before noon.

"This is why the mayor declared a crime emergency," Ramsey said, noting that his crime-fighting strategy detailed Wednesday was aggressively targeting this kind of deadly violence.

Ramsey is striving to reduce the number of homicides in the city this year by 100. Last year, there were 392 killings. So far this year, 25 people have been slain, compared with 32 last January.

Detectives were trying to determine what happened on St. Bernard, just north of Market Street, when the gunman pulled a shotgun, fired at the two men, and fled, police said.

Police identified the victims as Troy Jennings, 32, who lived on the block, and Marcellus Johnson, 29, of Yeadon, Delaware County.

Jennings was shot in the neck and rushed to the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, where he was pronounced dead at 12:18 p.m., said Officer Tanya Little of the Public Affairs Unit.

Johnson was shot in the chest and side and taken to the same hospital by medics and pronounced dead at 12:15 p.m., Little said.

It appears the assailant deliberately shot both victims, said Southwest Inspector Tony Boyle.

Based on preliminary information, authorities said the shooting may have been related to a domestic matter, but cautioned that was only one theory. It was not immediately clear if the victims knew each other.

Boyle said that block in West Philadelphia is relatively tranquil and noted that there had been only one other assault reported there in recent months.

Henry Jones, who lives nearby, said he was inside his home asleep during the shooting and was surprised by the police presence when he came outside.

"Usually it's pretty quiet, and there's not a lot of activity," Jones said.