Popular barber shot outside shop

APOPULAR barbershop owner was gunned down in West Oak Lane yesterday morning after an argument, authorities said.

Michael White, 32, was shot multiple times in the head and chest at 67th and Ogontz avenues across from his corner shop, Hair Infatuations, about 10:40 a.m., police said. He died at the scene 10 minutes later.

White was the city's 96th homicide victim of the year. At the same time last year, the city had 76 homicides, police said.

Yesterday's slaying happened less than a mile from where an 18-year-old, identified by police as Larry Staley, was shot to death in a McDonald's parking lot Monday afternoon. Homicide Sgt. Tim Cooney said yesterday that police "can see no link" between the two shootings.

White's brother, Derek Perkins, 23, cried aloud after he arrived at the taped-off crime scene outside his brother's barbershop, where he was supported by many of White's friends, including former Philadelphia Eagle Bruce Perry.

"He never hurt nobody," Perkins said after police left the scene. "He always gave his heart."

Perkins said his brother, who lived in Northeast Philadelphia with his fiancee and two sons, ages 3 and 10, had not been involved in anything illegal. His brother grew up in West Oak Lane and had six brothers and three sisters, he added. Last month, his brother celebrated his barbershop's 10th anniversary, Perkins said.

Cooney, of the Homicide Unit, said White "was involved in an argument and altercation immediately before the shooting." He did not know what prompted the argument.

Witnesses at the scene, Cooney said, saw two or three men in their mid- to late-20s flee the scene in a burgundy minivan.

Police at the crime scene were searching White's red Acura, parked on 67th Avenue across from his shop. They dusted it for fingerprints and later towed it. White was shot outside his car.

Perkins said his brother's .45-caliber, legally issued handgun was missing yesterday. White had a gun because he owned a business, and always carried it on his hip, Perkins said.

Cooney confirmed that White had a valid permit to carry a gun. He did not know if the culprits had taken White's weapon or used it to shoot him. No weapon was recovered at the scene, he said.

Friends and customers of White couldn't believe the barbershop owner was shot and killed.

Perry, the former Eagle, was visibly distraught at the scene and told reporters: "This has got to stop. He was a good man. He was my barber for two years. He never did anybody any wrong. He was a brother of everybody out here."

Keith Leaphart, a resident in rehabilitative medicine at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital who was a friend and former customer of White's, told reporters: "Mike was very family-oriented. He was a good guy. He owned a business. It's a shame - just the culture of violence in the city. . . . They [the perpetrators] had to be jealous of his business."

About 1:15 p.m. Monday, also in West Oak Lane, Larry Staley, 18, was killed after being shot twice in the lower torso and buttocks in the McDonald's parking lot at Stenton Avenue and Haines Street. He was pronounced dead at Albert Einstein Medical Center an hour later. Police were searching for the male shooter, who fled on a bike.

Staley's father, also Larry Staley, was outside his home within walking distance of the McDonald's yesterday.

"Lil Lar," as his son was called, worked at the McDonald's and would have turned 19 Thursday, said his father, who added that he did not know why his son had been killed.

Anyone with information on either homicide is asked to call detectives at 215-686-3334. *

Staff writer David Gambacorta contributed to this article.