Attorney Christopher Warren said he went to Police Headquarters around 4:45 p.m. yesterday to speak to Will "Pooh" Hook but was told he could not.
Warren said he spoke to a detective who told him "they are putting together paperwork to charge him with murder."
Hook surrendered on Monday to face burglary and other charges stemming from what police described as a failed attempt early on June 27 to break into the apartment of Rian Thal, 34, a popular party planner with ties to the region's drug culture.
Later that day, three gunmen confronted Thal and her friend Timothy Gilmore, 40, in the hallway outside her seventh-floor apartment in the in Northern Liberties complex's Navona building and killed them during a botched robbery. Police said Thal had four kilograms of cocaine and more than $100,000 in cash inside her apartment when she was killed.
When Hook, 40, surrendered Monday, accompanied by his family and pastor, Warren gave detectives a letter saying his client wasn't to be questioned outside his presence "under any circumstances."
He also said that he hoped a reasonable bail would be set on the burglary charge and that his client would be released within 36 hours.
He said Hook denied any involvement in the shootings and the earlier burglary. Furthermore, he said, Hook did not know Thal.
Sgt. Ray Evers, a police spokesman, said Warren was not allowed into the Homicide Unit because detectives were interviewing witnesses there.
"They're not going to allow a defense counsel to view who their witnesses are at this time," he said. "When the witnesses are done, they'll let him see his client."
Warren also has complained about the treatment of Katoya Jones, a friend of Hook's who also lived in the Navona.
Jones, 25, has been charged with murder after allegedly allowing one of the three gunmen in the building at Hook's behest.
Warren said Jones was held for several days without being able to speak to an attorney. Jones' statement to police could be a key to the case against Hook.
Police said Hook and another man, 27-year-old Robert Keith, tried to rob Thal on the morning of the shootings, but went to the wrong apartment and kicked in the door of a vacant unit. Keith was arrested on burglary and other charges last week.
Detectives also have a murder warrant for Donnell Murchison, 32, of the 6500 block of Limekiln Pike in the city's West Oak Lane neighborhood, charging him as one of the shooters.
They are seeking information on two more shooters and at least two lookouts.
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