Multiple suspects sought in fatal shooting of Nigerian immigrant

The body had 13 bullet wounds.

At least 25 shell casings were found at the scene of the fatal shooting Wednesday night of Gbolahan "Bo" Olabode, 45, outside his Lansdowne, Delaware County, residence.

"I wouldn't call it an execution, but for all intents and purposes, that's what it appears to be," Lansdowne Police Chief Daniel J. Kortan said Friday, adding that his officers were looking for multiple suspects.

"I would say they meant to kill him."

His body was found shortly after 8 p.m. outside the three-story apartment building where he lived on Owen Avenue. Kortan said he "had a considerable amount of cash on him."

Olabode, a competitive bodybuilder and Nigerian immigrant who studied criminal justice at Temple University, co-owned a local pharmacy business. He came to the United States in 1982 as one of more than a dozen children of what he called an upper-class family in Lagos.

He once was imprisoned for 43 days because of a false arrest, and in 1995, he won a $275,000 settlement from the City of Philadelphia. An account of his ordeal appeared in a 2001 autobiography, Born Suspect: The Life and Trials of Gbolahan Olabode, written with John W. Chenoweth.

Karen Chenoweth, John Chenoweth's sister and a longtime friend, described Olabode as a decent and hardworking person.

The investigation is continuing, but in the meantime, said Kortan, "it sounds like somebody wanted that guy seriously dead."

Authorities ask that anyone with information call Lansdowne police at 610-623-0700.