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Standout Judge running back faces murder charge

Quadir Gibson, 15, is accused of egging on the teen who fatally shot a girl walking home from school Monday.

LAST SATURDAY, Quadir Gibson hit the gridiron with the Father Judge Crusaders in a tough, one-point loss to Springside Chestnut Hill Academy.

A week later, he's behind bars, charged in a fatal shooting that has sidelined his budding football career.

Gibson, 15, turned himself in to police yesterday in connection to a shooting Monday outside Albert Einstein Medical Center that left Aisha Abdur Rahman, also 15, dead and a 19-year-old man in critical condition.

The Judge freshman, a standout running back for the Crusaders, has been charged with murder, attempted murder, criminal conspiracy, aggravated assault and related offenses, police said.

He will be tried as an adult and is being held without bail, according to court records.

Gibson's lawyer, Jonathan R. Altschuler, who escorted him into the Police Administration Building yesterday morning, did not return a call for comment last night.

The charges against Gibson come on the heels of the arrest of Darian Person, 19, who turned himself in to police Tuesday.

Person, who police say fired the fatal shots, has also been charged with murder, attempted murder and criminal conspiracy, as well as gun violations and related offenses.

Investigators have characterized Person as the "muscle" in an after-school brawl that escalated into deadly violence. The older teen was called to the area from Nicetown by other fighters, according to police.

One of those fighters was Gibson, who allegedly contacted Person, a police spokeswoman said yesterday.

When Person got to the scene of the fight, at SEPTA's Olney Transportation Center at Broad and Olney in Logan, he came with a gun. Police saw the crowd and forced the teens to disperse, pushing them south toward Einstein.

As the group migrated toward the hospital, Person allegedly pulled out a gun. Gibson egged him on, commanding him to start blasting, according to the spokeswoman.

So he did.

Police said about five shots were fired. Three struck a 19-year-old man in his groin and torso. A fourth hit Abdur Rahman, a sophomore at nearby Delaware Valley Charter High School, in her back as she walked home from school.

She collapsed on the hospital's front lawn just after 4 p.m. and died about 20 minutes later inside its emergency room, police said.

Worst of all in this senseless slaying is that it allegedly started over a petty argument.

Ernest Holiday, chief executive officer of Delaware Valley Charter, said students and other members of the school community believe the incident started as retaliation for a previous incident on Sept. 19.

In that altercation, a female student at Delaware Valley Charter and her sister got into a dispute with a group of teenage boys not affiliated with the school, allegedly over a romantic argument - in other words, a boyfriend-girlfriend spat.

Homicide Unit Captain James Clark said Tuesday that the argument escalated over the weekend on social media, leading to Monday's ill-fated gathering.

It was unclear how Gibson, who lives about four miles away from the scene in Oxford Circle, got roped into the fight.

But a source in Judge's athletic department said last night that the teen skipped the last period of the school day on Monday.

A spokesman for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia said he couldn't comment on the case, but stressed that "the administration of Father Judge High School will cooperate fully with the police department."

There was no answer last night at Gibson's home, on a quiet stretch of Horrocks Street near Comly.

Neighbors said they didn't know the teen that well - his family had moved to the area a year ago, they said.

All expressed shock, however, at the thought of the teen being linked to something so tragic.

- Staff writer Aaron Carter contributed to this report.