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Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Cops, FBI can't catch up with fugitive

Maki Thomas, accused of a fatal shooting in 2001, has eluded authorities for eight years but inadvertently dimed himself out earlier today.
Thomas, 24, apparently used his given name when he visited a medical center in Haverford to have an old injury treated, said Special Agent J.J. Klaver, an FBI spokesman.
Staffers at the center became suspicious and called local law enforcement, who ran his name through a database.
Within moments, they realized Thomas was wanted for allegedly gunning down Quentin Armstrong at 52nd Street and Washington Avenue in West Philadelphia on March 29, 2001, Klaver said.
The fatal shooting had apparently been retaliation for a previous gang-related shooting that involved one of Thomas’ relatives, Klaver added.
Members of the FBI’s Violent Crimes Fugitive Task Force, which includes Philadelphia police, raced to Haverford, only to find that Thomas had already given them the slip.
Several media reports claimed investigators had engaged in a high-speed chase with Thomas, but “there was no chase,” Klaver added.
“It is believed that the car he was seen in at the clinic, or at least a car matching the description of his, was seen getting onto the Blue Route,” he said, “but the car was never located there.”
Instead, a dark-colored vehicle that investigators believe Thomas used to flee was later found abandoned in West Oak Lane, said police spokesman Lt. Frank Vanore.
Thomas, who is 5-feet-7, 150 pounds, has tattoos on his left forearm. His last known addresses were on 64th Street near Haddington Lane and Cambridge Street near 41st, Klaver said.
He is considered armed and dangerous.
Anyone with information on Thomas’ whereabouts can contact the FBI at 215-418- 4000, or Philadelphia police at 215-686-TIPS.
Posted by David Gambacorta @ 9:58 PM  Permalink | 1 comment
Comments   
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 12:32 PM, 11/18/2009
    He went back home to West Philly. I guest he will get more street sred for getting away from the police.
    — sean1004


1 comments
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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