Convicted killer arrested in new murder

An Elmwood man with one murder conviction on his record was charged with another murder this week, after police arrested him for the Nov. 17 shooting death of college student Zykia Sanders.

Amin Gibbs, 33, of Dicks Avenue near 68th Street, was arrested after police interviewed him at police headquarters at 8th and Race.

Sanders, 22, had just attended a friend's birthday party at the West Park Apartments in Powelton and was standing with friends outside the apartments, on Busti Street near Holden, at 2:18 a.m. when three men in a four-door sedan rolled up. The two passengers in the car fired 15 to 20 rounds, police said. Sanders was not the intended target, but she was the only one struck by the gunfire. She was hit in the back as she ran away from the shots and was taken to the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, where she was pronounced dead around 2:30 a.m.

Sanders, the city's 295th homicide victim this year, was pursuing her bachelor's degree in business administration through the University of Phoenix.

In 1997, Gibbs was sentenced to7 1/2 to 20 years in state prison for killing someone during an armed robbery on April 29, 1995, according to court records. He had three subsequent arrests on charges including robbery, assault and gun offenses, but none resulted in conviction, records show.

Update. 12:09 p.m.: Gibbs was arraigned and ordered held without bail this morning. He is scheduled for a preliminary hearing on Dec. 19.