Police arrest suspect in 3-year-old's death
Brandon Ruffin, 22, of South Philadelphia, was arrested late last night in a home in East Germantown, police said.
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A SOUTH Philadelphia man, paroled a month ago on a felony gun charge, was arrested last night and charged with killing a 3-year-old girl on Friday in Grays Ferry during an argument with another man, police said.
Homicide Capt. James Clark said a joint task force of Homicide Unit detectives and U.S. Marshals arrested Brandon Ruffin, 22, about 10:30 in a home on Bloyd Street near Locust Avenue in East Germantown.
Earlier in the day, police issued an arrest warrant for Ruffin on a murder charge in Tynirah Borum's death.
Three others were shot as a result of the argument: two men, ages 21 and 24, and a woman, 28. The 24-year-old man was shot in the head and was in critical condition, Clark said. He said the other two victims were in stable condition. All were at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and their names had not been released.
Police previously arrested Douglas Woods, 22, of Ellsworth Street near 17th in Point Breeze, and he has been charged with murder and related offenses in the case. It was not clear last night whether he had a lawyer.
Ruffin and Woods are "very well-known" to police, Clark said, with several prior arrests. He declined to go into detail.
Court records show that Ruffin pleaded guilty Oct. 15 to having an unlicensed gun - which was concealed and had been reported stolen - and was sentenced to 11 1/2 to 23 months in jail and five years' probation. He was paroled July 5.
Before he got out in June 2013, Woods also pleaded guilty Dec. 28, 2011, to the same charge and got nine to 23 months in jail with probation.
Here's what Clark said happened last Friday:
The 3-year-old girl was having her hair braided on the porch of a home on Etting Street near Dickinson when Ruffin and Woods pedaled up on a bicycle. She was visiting from around the corner.
The two men had a "back-and-forth beef" with a 24-year-old man sitting on the porch, but police don't know what it was about. They had a brief conversation before Ruffin pulled out a gun and fired several times about 9:40 p.m. The men left the bicycle and ran away.
Ruffin remained in custody last night awaiting formal arraignment, Clark said.