Eleven minutes into the new year, Philly records first homicide of 2019

Before the 2019 New Year’s celebratory fireworks finished sounding over the Delaware, paramedics had already pronounced the city’s first homicide victim dead.

At 12:09 a.m., officers from the 25th District responded to a “hospital case/person with a gun” in the 3200 block of Tampa Street in the city’s Kensington neighborhood, where they found an unresponsive man in the street. He was suffering from gunshot wounds to the upper chest, left side of the head, left bridge of the nose, and left cheek. He was pronounced dead two minutes later.

Police on Wednesday identified the the victim as Anibal DeJesus, 36, of the 2800 block of North Mutter Street in the Fairhill section.

The city’s annual homicide total reached its highest level in more than a decade in 2018, with 353 homicides. In 2007, 391 people were killed.

Authorities ask that anyone with information contact the homicide unit at 215-686-3334 or call 911. There is a $20,000 reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction.