City's latest homicide victim was 26

A WEST PHILADELPHIA doughnut shop was the scene of yet another homicide yesterday afternoon as an unidentified 26-year-old man was shot to death inside.

Police said the man was shot through the face and neck shortly before 1 p.m. inside Tim's Donut on Poplar Street near 40th.

An 18-year-old woman was wounded in the shooting. She was taken to the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania in critical condition with wounds to the back and shoulder.

When cops arrived, the man lay dead in the doorway. He was the 129th homicide victim this year - on just the 115th day of the year.

As homicide investigators combed the sidewalk outside the doughnut shop, crowds gathered at all four corners of the intersection.

At one corner, workers from H and H Daycare spoke in whispers.

"I was just getting to work here when I pulled up and saw all of the crime tape being set up," said Kali, an employee at the day-care center who asked that her last name not be used.

"It's way too close when it hits you like this, and being so close to the kids, it's just too much," she said, shaking her head in disgust.

As crime-scene investigators placed placards at the locations of bullet casings, Robert Cousar, executive director of the East Parkside Community Revitalization Corp., came across the street to see who the latest victim was.

"I'm so sick of this," he said.

Cousar said his organization had been trying for months to get the doughnut shop closed, contending it violated numerous city codes and sometimes had drug activity.

"I think that the people of these neighborhoods need to take back their communities," Cousar said.

The criminals who stalk the neighborhoods often have been arrested before but were allowed back on the streets to commit the same crimes again, he said.

"Everyone in this community is at the mercy of the criminals and will continue to be until something is done about it," he said. *