Man, 23, dies after savage attack in Old City

In an attack as brutal as it was senseless, a 23-year-old man was dead Saturday night after being beaten by three men near Independence Hall early in the morning, police said.

The killing stemmed from a misunderstanding over a hailed cab, investigators said.

About 2:30 a.m., in the bustle of an Old City weekend night, the victim, whose name police did not immediately release Saturday, was walking with two female friends on Chestnut Street near Fourth Street - the trio having just left Lucy's Hat Shop Restaurant & Lounge a few blocks away.

The victim, who graduated from Temple University in 2010 and had recently begun working at an insurance firm, tried flagging down a cab, investigators said.

The taxi's rooftop lights were on, signaling it was available, but there were passengers inside and it did not stop, investigators said.

The victim yelled for the taxi driver to "turn off your f-ing lights," investigators said.

The traffic may have briefly slowed, said Lt. Ray Evers, a police spokesman. And then a maroon Mazda drove up behind the cab and stopped. There were four men inside.

"We assume the people in the car feel he's yelling at them," said one investigator.

Investigators were unsure what words, if any, were exchanged between the victim and the men in the Mazda. But two men got out of that vehicle and attacked Kless from behind, who was walking arm in arm with his girlfriend, near the steps of the historical Second Bank of the United States on Chestnut.

Kless' companions told investigators that Kless tried to protect the women from the attackers.

For a few moments, the attackers beat the victim as his friends cried for help.

When the two assailants walked back to their car, a third man got out of the vehicle, and the attack resumed with greater ferocity, investigators said.

This time the attackers smashed the man's head against a low granite wall in front of the bank building, police said.

Witnesses described the assailants as either of Middle Eastern or Indian descent, according to police.

They fled in their car as National Park Service Rangers stationed nearby responded to the women's cries, Evers said.

Lying on the ground, the victim had no pulse, police said. Park Rangers administered CPR and used a defibrillator until paramedics arrived.

The man's heart stopped twice in an operating room at Jefferson Hospital, investigators said, before he died about 7 p.m.

A security camera captured an image of the Mazda 626 - which police described as being a four-door sedan possibly from the 2000-03 model years. But the image is grainy, and police were scouring security footage for a clearer picture to release to the public, Evers said.

Police are asking for anyone who witnessed the incident, or who may have any information on the attack, to contact homicide investigators at 215-686-3334.

The bars had just let out, Evers said, and sidewalks were busy at the time of the attack.

"If somebody saw this and thought it was nothing, they need to contact us," Evers said.

Police also asked that businesses from Front to Eighth Streets that might have surveillance cameras facing Chestnut to contact investigators.

"This is a senseless and tragic incident," Evers said. "Young people were out having a good time, and seconds later this kid is dead."

Staff writer Walter F. Naedele contributed to this article.