Cops nab teen in slaying of 'good Samaritan'

A teenager who police say brutally shot and killed a good Samaritan who intervened in a holdup at a North Philly corner store last month was arrested for his involvement in the crime on Tuesday, police announced.

Cops had been on the hunt for 18-year-old Angel Nieves, of Schiller Street near H in Harrowgate, since the March 18 holdup of La Familia Latina Mini Market at 5th Street and Glenwood Avenue that left 26-year-old Rafael Del Valle, of Bancroft Street near Huntingdon, dead on the street after he attempted to chase down the masked, armed robber.

Police gave this account of the robbery and murder:

A masked, armed gunman identified by police as 26-year-old Edward Friedland, of 15th Street near Venango in Tioga, burst into the store around 8:30 p.m. that Sunday, announced a robbery and got into a gun battle with storeowner Antonio Monegro, 35, after Monegro pulled his own gun on the assailant.

After Friedland and Monegro exchanged gunfire and shot each other, Friedland managed to run out the door, and Del Valle, a bystander, picked up Monegro's weapon and chased Friedland north on 5th Street.

That's when police say Nieves picked up the gun Friedland had discarded and ran after Del Valle, shooting the good Samaritan several times in the back before standing over his bleeding body where he fell in the middle of 5th Street and firing one last bullet into his head. Del Valle died at the scene.

Friedland, who turned up at the hospital with a gunshot wound the night of the robbery, was arrested then and charged with attempted murder, robbery, aggravated assault and related offenses for the shooting of the storeowner.

Nieves now faces charges of murder, criminal conspiracy, robbery and related offenses for Del Valle's killing.