Man fatally stabbed near Pennsylvania Convention Center

A BRAZEN, VIOLENT murder took place in Center City early yesterday while the World Meeting of Families was preparing a day of papal-themed events across the street.

Just before 7 a.m., a 47-year-old man was stabbed once in the left side of his chest outside the John F. Kennedy Behavioral Health Center, on Broad Street near Cherry, police said.

Officers took him to Hahnemann University Hospital, where he was pronounced dead about an hour later.

Investigators say the slaying came at the height of a heated argument between the victim and an unidentified man, but it was unclear last night what they were fighting about.

Homicide Capt. James Clark said that despite the location of the incident, the victim was not homeless and had recently started a job as a custodian at Lincoln Financial Field.

Police withheld his name yesterday, pending family notification.

Clark was adamant that the fatal stabbing was an "isolated incident," and was in no way connected to the World Meeting of Families, housed on the other side of Broad at the Pennsylvania Convention Center.

During an address at the center yesterday, Commissioner Charles Ramsey echoed that point.

"That's not a person for this event. It's a city resident," Ramsey said of the victim.

"It's unfortunate, and it could have been the result of an argument, but it was not part of the World Meeting of Families, that much I can tell you."

Homicide Detectives were canvassing that block of Broad Street yesterday, Clark said, searching for surveillance footage of the attack.

Tipsters should call 215-686-8477.

- Staff writer Stephanie Farr

contributed to this report.