Way back in late April, local and national reporters couldn't get their pens and microphones together fast enough when word broke that Colts wide receiver Marvin Harrison was linked to a North Philadelphia shooting. When the case failed to develop -- that is, when Harrison was never charged and the police publicly never mentioned him as suspect or person of interest -- the story faded away.

Guess who's back.

I started rooting around a few weeks ago to see if anything new was brewing in the case. Presto:

Marvin Harrison’s life just got more complicated.
The NFL star — who was linked to a springtime North Philadelphia shooting that left one man wounded — is now being sued by the alleged victim, Dwight Dixon.
Harrison was never charged with the April 29 shooting, which occurred after he and Dixon exchanged blows near an auto garage shop that Harrison owns on Thompson Street near 25th, according to police sources.
The case is still considered an open investigation, said Assistant District Attorney Christopher Diviny.
While Harrison, 36, admitted to members of Central Detectives that he was involved in the fight, he insisted he had nothing to do with the shooting, the sources said.
His handlers maintained his innocence during the ensuing media firestorm. The case eventually stopped generating headlines, and Harrison went back to his lucrative day job as a wide receiver for the Indianapolis Colts.

But over time, the investigation uncovered evidence that seemed to point back in Harrison’s direction:
*Harrison and Dixon squabbled for two weeks prior to the shooting after they exchanged words in Harrison’s bar, Playmakers, on 28th Street near Cambridge.
*Ballistics tests proved shell casings found at the shooting scene were fired from Harrison’s gun, a Belgian-made FN5.7, law enforcement sources said.
*Detectives found the firearm in Harrison’s garage on Thompson Street.
*Witnesses and Dixon separately identified Harrison as the shooter, the sources said.
The lawsuit, which was filed Sept. 2, is worded in a way that would find Harrison liable regardless of the outcome of the criminal investigation.
“The defendant intentionally and outrageously shot the plaintiff,” reads one portion of the lawsuit, while another section states Dixon, 32, was shot by someone else who used Harrison’s gun.
“Look, it’s our position that Marvin Harrison was the shooter,” said Robert M. Gamburg, Dixon’s attorney.
“But even if you believe the other theory, Marvin’s gun was still used in the shooting, so he was negligent for leaving the weapon where someone else could obtain it.”

I'll try to post the rest of the story up when I get in on Wednesday. Stay tuned!

A 44-year-old man was shot in the leg during an attempted robbery earlier tonight in West Philadelphia. The victim, whose name was not released, encountered three assailants near 51st and Market streets at about 7:40 p.m., said Lt. John Walker, of Southwest Detectives.

The victim was taken to the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania in stable condition. The triggerman, an unidentified man in his 20s, was arrested, as was his unidentified female cohort, Walker said. The third would-be robber is still on the loose.

"You know, I have one simple request. And that is to have sharks with frickin' laser beams attached to their heads!" -- Dr. Evil

Lenny J. Tavarez didn't have the sharks, but he did, according to cops, have the laser. Tavarez, 19, was arrested in Hunting Park Tuesday night after he shined a Philadelphia police helicopter pilot in the eye with a laser. Police officials said Air Tac 2 was flying near Palmetto Street and Hunting Park Avenue at about 10:30 p.m. when Tavarez used a silver, pen-like green laser to briefly blind the pilot.

The pilot and his partner used Tac Air's spotlight to single out Tavarez, who continued to target the helicopter with the laser. Cops on the ground followed the light and arrested Tavarez. He was charged with risking a catastrophe, aggravated assault and related offenses.

I can't believe I didn't post this earlier. Daily News reporter Jason Nark had an eyebrow-raising story today about Robert Melia Jr., a Moorestown, N.J., cop who was indicted Thursday for having sex with underaged girls and, er, cows. No, really:

"Two weeks later, authorities filed animal-cruelty charges and official-misconduct charges against him, alleging that he had performed sexual acts on cows in rural Southampton, Burlington County, several times in 2006.

The Burlington County Prosecutor's Office declined to comment on the indictment yesterday, or to elaborate on Melia's alleged trysts with livestock."

What. The. Hell.

Sad to note to add tonight, folks.

The outlook is not so good for Sgt. Andrew Stackwicz, the 26-year veteran who suffered an apparent heart attack while on duty last Friday.  Police officials said earlier tonight that Stackwicz was removed from life support at Temple University Hospital, where he had been listed in critical condition for the past week. "His condition is very grave," a police source said. "It could be just a matter of time."

A resident found Stackwicz, 57, unconscious in his patrol car on Glenwood Avenue near Diamond Street at about 6:45 p.m. and called 9-1-1. A handful of cops performed CPR on Stackwicz on the way up to the hospital. Later that night, Mayor Nutter deemed their efforts life-saving. Stackwicz is married with two children.

The Police Citywide Vice Unit had their hands full earlier today in Northeast Philadelphia, where a self-described "mother and daughter combo" were arrested.

Police said Traci Young, 38, and Tammy Smith, 22, ran a prostitution business inside their home on Ditman Street near Benner. Young and Smith solicited customers and offered to "provide ... the fantasy of  a lifetime" on Craigslist. (The link can still be found here.)

While some folks might argue that the media is making too big a deal out of Young and Smith working in the World's Oldest Profession, neighbors and police said both women neglected Smith's three young children, ages 3, 5 and 7, all of whom were taken into custody today by DHS. There will be more, of course, in tomorrow's Daily News.

This one will surely get some folks' blood boiling:

It looked like Edward Burgess had gained the upper hand during a life-or-death struggle with Officer Stephen Mazzoni in a dank North Philadelphia alley last Nov. 11.
After beating Mazzoni senseless, Burgess leaned on top of the cop and tried to grab his gun, according to police records obtained by the Daily News.
Then the 38-year-old career criminal made himself perfectly clear: He would kill Mazzoni before ever being hauled back to jail, the records state.
Luck was on Mazzoni’s side that day, as backup officers arrived and arrested Burgess before the showdown could get any worse. It’s unclear, though, if justice is on the veteran cop’s side.
On Sept. 22, Common Pleas Judge Rosalyn K. Robinson ordered Burgess, who had 13 prior arrests, to be released on house arrest to await the start of his trial, which is scheduled for March 25, 2009.
The judge’s decision — which came just a day before Highway Patrol Officer Sgt. Patrick McDonald was slain by convicted felon Daniel Giddings in North Philadelphia — infuriated police officials and union leaders already at their wit’s end over the rising tide of violence aimed at police.
Law enforcement sources said that the District Attorney’s Office immediately filed a detainer to keep Burgess behind bars, and is preparing to file a motion for reconsideration.
“This is one more example, I think, of a judge not making the right decision,” Police Commissioner Charles H. Ramsey said in an interview last night.
“This person assaulted a police officer, tried to take the officer’s gun and threatened to kill him, and he was put on house arrest? It’s ridiculous.”
Burgess — whose arrest record stretches back to 1988 and includes seven convictions — was pulled over by Mazzoni and his partner on Westmoreland Street near Germantown Avenue in November, for a traffic violation, according to police.
The cops allegedly found a crack pipe and several empty crack bags in Burgess’ car and ordered him to get out. He fled down an alley, where he beat Mazzoni and punched another officer, while stating that he had AIDS, police records show.
The sources said that Robinson’s decision was likely prompted by Rule 600, a state criminal-procedure regulation that maintains that no defendant should be held in pre-trail incarceration for more than 180 days. Burgess’ case has been plagued with several continuances since February, including some that were attributed to Mazzoni not being well enough to make it to court, sources said.
“That right there tells you this was no minor incident,” Ramsey said. “If anything, it’s all the more reason to hold the guy and not trust him to abide by some house-arrest rules.”
Robinson did not return a phone call to her office from the Daily News late yesterday. A former prosecutor, she was elected to the bench in 1997 and earned another10-year term last year with the blessing of the Philadelphia Bar Association, which recommended her retention.
Earlier this week, leaders of the city’s Fraternal Order of Police sounded a warning to judges they deemed as too lenient.
“That wasn’t just for show. We’re going to take a proactive approach and hammer judges who let people like [Burgess] go,” FOP President John McNesby said last night.
“We’re going to assign someone to watch the courts and work with the D.A.’s office. We’re going to make sure our officers and our citizens are protected.”
In response to the FOP’s salvo on some judges, Common Pleas President Judge C. Darnell Jones II said that “blaming the judiciary is not an appropriate response to this type of terrible criminal conduct.”

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Thousands joined together yesterday to bid a somber farewell to slain Highway Patrol Officer Patrick McDonald. McDonald is the fourth Philadelphia police officer killed in the line of duty in the last 11 months. The 30-year-old was gunned down last Tuesday in North Philadelphia by Daniel Giddings, a recent parolee from state prison who already had a warrant out for his arrest for assaulting several police officers. Giddings was later killed during a gun battle with police.

McDonald's send-off was stirring and unique, to say the least. Police Commissioner Charles H. Ramsey announced during the funeral Mass at the Cathedral Basilica of Ss. Peter and Paul that he was promoting McDonald posthumously to the rank of sergeant. Hundreds of motorcycle cops from up and down the East Coast were a part of the motorcade that carried McDonald to his final resting place at Resurrection Cemetery in Bensalem. A high-ranking cop told me it was the largest motorcade the police department had ever seen.

The murder of McDonald, a hard-scrabble football player and lifelong resident of Morrell Park in Northeast Philadelphia, has left many in the city reeling. To his brothers and sisters in blue, McDonald's death was another crushing reminder of the dangers they face and the willingness -- if not downright eagerness -- of thugs to pull a trigger when they spot a cop. To residents who still admire and respect police officers, McDonald's death inspired them to reach out and show their support.

When I was in the Northeast Monday night for McDonald's viewing, I couldn't go more than a few feet without spotting encouraging posters displayed in front windows, flags lowered to half mast on front lawns and little blue ribbons tied around trees. The desire to express some measure of solidarity spread around the city. Some folks stood outside of their homes yesterday and saluted the funeral motorcade. Heck, it's even noticeable here, where I work. The ivory top of the old Inquirer building is bathed in a blue light during the evening, and the folks running our Web site turned philly.com's "dot" blue yesterday.

I've had a few people tell me they think McDonald's murder will act as a tipping point of some kind, and force cops, elected leaders and judges to take a new or radical approach to putting the squeeze on violent offenders. Maybe. One discouraging number to keep in mind is that McDonald is one of 13 cops who have been shot in just the past two years. We've grieved again and again for the Fallen Five and raised our collective hands in the air, shouting about change and action.

Question is, will all of the emotions in the city lead to more than just words this time?

A 25-year-old man, who was shot in his South Philadelphia home early yesterday as he lay sleeping next to his girlfriend and 3-year-old daughter, was one of four victims of violent crime this weekend among those critically injured in four violent crimes this weekend. Three other people in other cases died from their injuries — one after being beaten by a one-time friend and the other who was shot after attempting an armed robbery of a victim who was carrying his own gun. About 4:30 a.m. yesterday, police said, an unknown number of people kicked down the back door to a house on Pierce Street near 17th and shot the 25-year-old resident and a 19-year-old unidentified male friend in his house, said Det. John Ruth, of South Detectives.

The woman and child sharing a bed with the resident escaped unharmed, he said. The 19-year-old male, who was wounded in the stomach and buttocks, remains in intensive care at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. The 25-year-old victim, shot in his leg and buttocks, was in surgery last night at HUP. Police said they have been unable to interview either victim because of ongoing medical treatment, but the home did not appear to be otherwise ransacked. A firearm, believed to belong to the resident, was found in the upstairs bedroom where he was shot, Ruth said. Just hours earlier, about 1:15 a.m. on 52nd Street near Florence Avenue, in the Kingsessing section, three men were approached by two armed, 17-year-old males who attempted to rob them, Homicide Sgt. Tim Cooney said.

One of the victims, who had a permit to carry his own, concealed weapon, pulled a gun on his teen attackers — shooting one twice in the chest and the other two times in the arm, Cooney said. The young man shot in the chest was taken to HUP, where he was pronounced dead at 1:55 a.m. His accomplice remains at the same hospital in stable condition, police said. Homicide and Southwest detectives are working together to determine if the duo was involved in previous robberies.

Cooney said the District Attorney’s Office will review the case, but as of now, the victim who shot his alleged robbers isn’t facing charges. In Grays Ferry on Saturday night, an Allentown man allegedly beat and strangled his one-time friend to death — possibly, with his own hands. The attack occurred around about 10:30 p.m. on Wilder Street near 26th at the home of the victim, Anthony Williams, 37, police said. According to Cooney, Raymond Armstrong, 31, showed up at Williams’ house “distraught and upset.” Williams managed to get his friend inside the home, where an argument ensued, police said. Williams was pronounced dead en route to Methodist Hospital at 10:50 p.m.

The cause of death has been listed as blunt-force trauma and strangulation. Armstrong has been charged with murder but has not been charged with possessing instruments of a crime. That could mean that he used only his hands in the alleged attack, a source said. And last night, an unidentified 24-year-old man died as a result of a gunshot wound to the hip, said a homicide detective. He was shot by a gunman at 13th Street near Fairmount Avenue, about 7 p.m. and was pronounced dead at Hahnemann University Hospital shortly before 10 p.m., police said. They reported no arrests.