Spike in murders on Memorial Day weekend
Police today identified the victims of five unrelated weekend murders.
The holiday weekend kept the city's homicide detectives especially busy: Police today identified the victims of five unrelated weekend murders.
In the most recent case, someone shot Brandon Huggins, 19, of Sergeant Street near 12th in Hartranft, in the head, torso and arm just before 11 p.m. yesterday at 30th and Diamond streets in Strawberry Mansion, police said. He died at Temple University Hospital at 11:02 p.m. Police reported no suspects or motive.
Less than an hour earlier, police found Naccar Gredic, 20, of Bonsall Street near Mifflin in South Philly, collapsed with a gunshot wound to his back inside the park on 65th Street near Grays Avenue in Elmwood, police said. He died at 10:22 p.m. at Penn-Presbyterian Medical Center, police said. Police reported no suspects or motive.
At 1:25 a.m. yesterday, someone gunned down Kenneth Williams, 24, of Aspen Street near 40th, in the head and back in the playground outside his West Philly home, police said. Williams died at 1:46 a.m. at Penn-Presbyterian, police said. An argument sparked the gunfire, police said. Police reported no suspects.
Less than an hour earlier, police scrambled to 17th and Luzerne streets in Nicetown, where they found Richard Napper, 23, of Rodney Street near East Mt. Airy Avenue in East Mt. Airy, shot in the neck and chest, police said. He died at 12:42 a.m. at Temple, police said. Police reported no suspects or motive.
Police also identified a man stabbed to death Saturday in Belfield as Roysten Webb, 28, of Dyre Street near Frankford Avenue in Frankford. Officers found Webb collapsed on the bedroom floor of an apartment on Ogontz Avenue near Olney just before 1 p.m. with two puncture wounds to his head. Paramedics declared him dead on the scene. Police reported no suspects or motive.
The city offers a $20,000 reward for tips leading to an arrest and conviction in all murders. Tipsters, call homicide detectives at (215) 686-3334 or -3335.
The cases boosted the city's murder count to 94 so far this year, up from 89 at the same time last year, police data shows.