Skip to content
Link copied to clipboard

Fatal embrace: They hugged, then one shot the other

It was just after 3 a.m. on a Sunday in Camden when a single bullet tore through Lance Jenkins' arm, penetrated his chest, and killed him, authorities said.

It was just after 3 a.m. on a Sunday in Camden when a single bullet tore through Lance Jenkins' arm, penetrated his chest, and killed him, authorities said.

The gunshot came from an unlikely source, according to investigators - a man who had just embraced Jenkins.

That man, Robert Wilcox, was held on $1.5 million bail Tuesday in Superior Court in Camden, where prosecutors described how, after the hug, Wilcox allegedly pushed, shot, and chased Jenkins, who tried to run as he bled from the bullet wound.

The shooting happened May 8 in the 1400 block of Bradley Avenue in the Parkside neighborhood. It was among 23 homicides this year in Camden, which has experienced a sharp upsurge in violence. Last year at this time, the city had recorded 10 homicides.

Authorities did not specify a motive or a connection between Wilcox, 31, and Jenkins, 38, both of Camden, but said they both exited a car that had pulled up and stopped on Bradley Avenue.

A third individual, the driver, stayed in the car during the shooting, which video surveillance in the area captured, prosecutors said.

Detectives tracked down the driver, who told them he heard a single gunshot and saw Jenkins running. The driver said he had picked up Jenkins on Haddon and Landsdowne Avenues, about four blocks away, earlier that morning, authorities said.

Police responded to the shooting at 3:08 a.m. and found Jenkins lying on the sidewalk, prosecutors said. He was taken to Cooper University Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 3:22.

mboren@phillynews.com

856-779-3829 @borenmc