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Friday, August 7, 2009

Boy, 16, dies after Fairhill playground fight

A playground spat between two boys turned deadly in Fairhill earlier today, police said.

Relatives of both boys said Hector Soto, 16, slugged Eric Dixon, 16, after the two had apparently argued over trivial teenage nonsense at Fairhill Square park, on Lehigh Avenue near 4th Street, shortly after 3:35 p.m.

Dixon fell to the ground unconscious. He was taken by medics to Temple University Hospital, where he died at 4:18 p.m., police said. The teen suffered head trauma, although the exact cause of death won't be known until after an autopsy is performed this weekend, a homicide detective said.

A woman at the park who identified herself as Soto's sister said her brother "was trying to show off in front of a girl, and it got out of hand. He never would have tried to hurt someone like this."

"He was scared when he saw the ambulance. He knew he was in trouble, so he stayed" at the scene, his sister added.

Shortly after 6 p.m., Soto's sobbing relatives met Dixon's mother, Miranda Dixon, and the boy's grandfather, Yusef Hameed, at the edge of the park, not far from where the fatal fight occurred. "Everybody lost here today," Hameed said. "It was another senseless killing."
Posted by David Gambacorta @ 7:25 PM  Permalink | 17 comments
Comments   
  • Comment removed.
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 8:24 PM, 08/07/2009
    you're right joe. I wonder why. THOSE ANIMALS!!!
    — ckirk255
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 8:28 PM, 08/07/2009
    of course it will...this is a true tragedy and it doesn't require all the bickering. This little kid is going to have to live with being a killer for the rest of his life. He can either carry the guilt, or worse, use it as reputation...Really up to the parents from here..Hopefully no close-by gangs start to take him in
    — MFPhils
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 8:39 PM, 08/07/2009
    The men in the parking lot brawl were low life grown men losers with no future. This is about two young kids who still had a chance. Now one has no chance at all and the other has committed murder at 16 and has very little chance at a future. It's as sad as it gets.
    — unreal
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 8:40 PM, 08/07/2009
    I'm just shocked neither one of them had a gun.
    — WWTDD
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 8:41 PM, 08/07/2009
    yeah i agree...this one doesnt involve people weighing in on people with beer muscles and trying to defend the 45 yr old jerks who beat someone to death over a spilled beer...there is no controversy here. At least this kid knew what happened was wrong and stuck around like a man to own up to it...its a tragedy and i hope that everyone involved finds a way to cope with guilt and loss.
    — sbuxjunkie
  • Comment removed.
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 9:12 PM, 08/07/2009
    That is such a shame
    — Twizzyraw
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 9:13 PM, 08/07/2009
    That is such a shame
    — Twizzyraw
  • Comment removed.
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 10:23 PM, 08/07/2009
    That's what you thought you needed to say about this story joe?
    — al personal foul
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 11:03 PM, 08/07/2009
    Joe, two million people will visit the stadium this season. The location is significantly higher profile. Truth is this is just terrible. Whether the stadium or the playground, doesn't anyone step in, or just create a distraction by yelling police?
    — Ramundo
  • Comment removed.
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 12:34 AM, 08/08/2009
    A stupid fist fight! No weapons, no one trying to kill another, and no one tried to run. A true tragedy
    — bdriver
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 1:13 AM, 08/08/2009
    What a sad tragedy for 2 teenagers and there families.Teens sometimes act too impulsively. I think what we need is for all public schools to teach conflict resolution to kids and teenagers.
    — fjulio


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About The PhillyConfidential team

Dana DiFilippo has covered murder, mayhem and miscellany at the Daily News since 2000. She grew up in Delaware County and studied journalism and photography at Penn State University. E-mail tips to difilid@phillynews.com.

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Stephanie Farr has been reporting for the Daily News since 2007, covering everything from gay porn stars who entered the burglary business to moon trees, skinheads, murders and naked bike rides. She covers crime, both in the city and suburbs, and keeps clippings of bizarre Associated Press articles. Her favorite this year was the story about the drunk in Punxsutawney who gave mouth-to-mouth resuscitation to a dead opossum. E-mail tips to farrs@phillynews.com.

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Phillip Lucas joined the Daily News crime team in 2011. He grew up on the mean streets of Seattle and studied journalism and psychology at Howard University in Washington, D.C. Before landing in the City of Brotherly Love, Phillip was a reporter for The News Journal in Wilmington, Del. Email tips to lucasp@phillynews.com.

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Morgan Zalot is the newest crime reporter at the Daily News, starting in 2011 after interning at the paper twice as a Temple University journalism student. In her past stints at the DN, she covered just about everything, from drunken Phillies fans to a barber shop in a high school to a grisly murder-suicide. She’s a born-and-raised Philly girl who grew up in the Northeast. E-mail tips to zalotm@philly.com.

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