Skip to content
News
Link copied to clipboard

Killings, shootings, crashes mark violent weekend in Philadelphia area

The weekend in the Philadelphia region was marked by a series of violent incidents, including shootings and car crashes that have left at least eight people dead since Friday night.

The deaths include two fatal shootings in Camden and three in Philadelphia, as well as two deadly traffic accidents in South Jersey and one in Bensalem.

Other violent incidents also added to the weekend mayhem, including the shooting of a Temple University student, two double shootings and a robber who threatened to give his victim AIDS.

In Camden, authorities are investigating two deadly shootings that occurred hours apart Sunday morning.

The Camden County Prosecutors Office said 24-year-old Armir Lee Thomas-Money, of Camden, was taken to Cooper University Hospital after suffering a gunshot wound. Officers had been called to the area of Front and Vine streets at about 4:40 a.m., but hadn't been able to locate a victim.

He was pronounced dead at 5:54 a.m., authorities said.

Then, shortly after 6:30 a.m., officers found 20-year-old Wesley L. Nelms shot on a porch on the 1100 block of Chase Street. He was taken to Cooper, where he was pronounced dead at 6:54 a.m.

In Philadelphia, a 57-year-old man was found shot inside a 2001 Oldsmobile on the 5200 block of Marion Street in the Penn-Knox section at about 8 p.m. Sunday, police said.

The man, whose identity has not been released, had suffered a gunshot wound to the left side of his head. He was taken to Einstein Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead at 10:55 p.m., according to police.

Earlier in the weekend, a 25-year-old man was fatally shot near 18th Street and Girard Avenue and a woman was found dead from a gunshot wound to the back of the head on the 1600 block of Rowan Street in Nicetown. Both slayings were reported Saturday night.

No arrests were reported in any of the killings, and descriptions of suspects were not available.

At least two pedestrians and one motorist were killed in weekend car crashes.

On Saturday night, a 57-year-old woman died when she was hit by a car while walking in Bensalem. Police this morning identified her as Theresa Degrazia, of Bensalem.

Also Saturday evening, police officer responding to a call in Manchester Township in Ocean County struck and killed a pedestrian.

Those accidents came after a Friday-night crash on the Garden State Parkway that left a 76-year-old man dead after he veered off the road and struck a tree.

Police over the weekend were also investigating a series of shootings and robberies in Philadelphia and the suburbs. Those incidents included:

- A Temple University student was shot outside a fraternity party early Saturday morning. The student, a 22-year-old undergraduate, was treated at Hahnemann University Hospital for a gunshot wound to his left thigh and hip and was released.

- Two armed security guards who fired shots at a minivan driver who allegedly tried to run them over after being kicked out of Club Onyx on Christopher Columbus Boulevard in South Philadelphia, striking him in the shoulders and legs. Prior to the incident, the driver had been involved in another incident -- an altercation with his wife -- in which shots were fired, according to police.

- A 33-year-old man was shot in the chest during an altercation at an apartment on the 3100 block of Frankford Avenue in Philadelphia's Kensigton section on Saturday night.

- A father shot his son and then turned the gun on himself in an attempted murder-suicide in Chester County.

- Two people were reported in critical condition after they were found shot inside a vehicle in a Monmouth County neighborhood.

- A valet was robbed while trying to hail a cab for a customer outside a Penn's Landing hotel on Saturday night.

- A robber wielding a blood-filled syringe threatened to give a woman AIDS at a Chinese restaurant in Kensington early Saturday morning.