Cops: Door traps, suffocates burglar

Two men died violent deaths over the weekend, one a murder victim and the other a victim of suffocation when his head became caught in a trapdoor while he was trying to burglarize a bar, police said.

Police said Wilson Garcia, 19, was shot to death shortly after 7 Saturday night at A and Westmoreland streets, Kensington. He died in Episcopal Hospital. He was the city's 211th homicide victim of the year, according to Sgt. D.F. Pace, a police spokesman.

The motive for the slaying appeared to be some type of argument, said Homicide Sgt. Anthony McFadden.

Also on Saturday night, a burglary went awry when a man suffocated inside Earl's Place bar on 23rd Street near Snyder Avenue in South Philadelphia, police said.

Jonathan Golphin, 39, got inside the bar through a grate leading to the basement, according to Sgt. Brian Sprowal of South Detectives.

"The man got his head stuck in the corner of a trapdoor that separates the first floor and the second floor of the bar," Sprowal said.

The trapdoor was secured by a piece of wood on the opposite side from where the man's head was stuck, Sprowal said.

Fire rescue was called and the man was pronounced dead at the scene.

Court records showed that Golphin had prior arrests for burglary and related offenses.

"He's also had multiple occasions of contact with law enforcement," Sprowal said.

"It's certainly one of the most unusual incidents that I have ever come across," Sprowal added.

Other weekend crime included seven shootings and three stabbings:

* A 22-year-old man was in critical condition at Albert Einstein Medical Center after being shot in the stomach on Johnson Street near Morton in Mount Airy at about 1:30 yesterday afternoon. Cops were trying to determine a motive.

* A 20-year-old man was shot in the shoulder on 55th Street near Ridgewood, Southwest Philadelphia, shortly before 7 a.m. yesterday. He was in stable condition at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania.

* A triple shooting in Nicetown yesterday morning left three people nursing non-life-threatening wounds at Temple University Hospital, police said. A 27-year-old man was shot in the left ankle, a 30-year-old man was shot in the calf, and a 22-year-old woman was shot in the right shoulder on Pike Street near Sydenham.

* Police also were investigating a shooting on 9th Street near Lycoming in North Philadelphia. An unidentified man was shot once in the right leg shortly before 3 a.m. Saturday. He was in stable condition at Temple.

* An unidentified 27-year-old man was also in stable condition at Temple after being shot twice in the right leg shortly before 2 a.m. Saturday on Delhi Street near Boston Avenue.

Three stabbings over the weekend also kept investigators busy.

* An 18-year-old woman was stabbed in the neck on the corner of Chelten Avenue and Wister Street in Somerville at noon Saturday. She was listed in stable condition at Einstein.

* A 45-year-old woman was stabbed in the buttocks on Belfield Avenue near Windrim in Logan about 5 a.m. yesterday morning. She was listed in stable condition at Einstein.

* A 20-year-old man was stabbed in the leg on 11th Street near Berks in North Philadelphia at about 6 a.m. yesterday. He was listed in stable condition at Temple. *

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