Bat in hand, man shot dead in South Philly home

ALFRED NEBBIO'S eyes welled with tears as he watched in disbelief as police swarmed his prim South Philadelphia block late Tuesday afternoon, investigating the slaying of his 21-year-old son.

"He's a good kid," Nebbio, 41, said as police gathered outside his green-shuttered brick rowhouse on Juniper Street near McClellan, where cops say somebody shot his son, whom he identified as Richard Nebbio, before ransacking the second floor.

"This has got me sick to my stomach," Nebbio said.

A friend of the victim's called police to the scene shortly after 4 p.m. and told them that he'd found the victim lying on the floor just inside the house's wood-and-beveled-glass door, Chief Inspector Scott Small said.

The man was pronounced dead at the scene, at 4:24 p.m., of a gunshot wound to the abdomen, and police found ballistic evidence inside the house indicating that at least two shots were fired at him at point-blank range.

Small said that there was no sign of forced entry into the house and that the second floor was ransacked when cops arrived. A safe on that floor was found open and empty, Small said, and investigators were investigating whether anything was stolen.

Police sources said that the shooter knocked on the front door, and Nebbio - wielding a bat, which was found under his body - opened it before he was shot.

Word of the violent slaying spread quickly through the tightly knit neighborhood, just a stone's throw from the vibrant East Passyunk Avenue corridor, drawing neighbors outside.

Despite the neighborhood's reputation for being quiet, residents and police sources said that the house where the young man was slain was known for drug activity. A police source said that heroin packets were found inside. Investigators were looking into the possibility that the shooting was drug-related.

Alfred Nebbio said that his son graduated from Prep Charter High School, in Point Breeze, where he was a talented athlete who played football and baseball. Nebbio said that things went downhill when his son tore his knee ligament four years ago.

"He hasn't been right since then," the father said. "He got real depressed."

The victim's 18-year-old sister sobbed as relatives comforted her. About 20 family members gathered on the end of Juniper Street as cops cordoned off the block.

"This is unbelievable," Nebbio said, weeping as he hugged a relative. "This is terrible."