While statistically the City's murder rates are down, this appears to be the harbinger of a hot and confrontational summer.
1) During the past two weeks several evenings (after sunset), while driving east on Market Street from 43rd St, I have noticed large numbers of teenagers, 15-25 boys and girls, roaming Market with possibly UCT being their focus. This might serve as a heads up to people using the subway at 40th Street. 2) A City problem -- for sometime now there have been difficult to confirm reports that "The Bloods" as in West Coast gang have been recruiting in SW. I will say simply the locals and Feds are aware. A reliable local source indicated earlier this year a Blood recruiter was detained by local law enforcement then kicked free by what was believed Fed action. How do you spell C. I.? 3) A reminder, people walking around with I-Pods and cell phones stuck in their ears are so oblivious to their environment, they might as well have a sign on them that reads, "Evil doer, please make me your next victim." One of my kids was the latest dope on music this morning; 15th Street subway station. After a brief scuffle she lost nothing and the young man, she pegged at 14, managed to run away. Except for extraordinarily accomplished decrepit old people, funerals are most inopportune. Ciao, Craig Posted on Mon, Jun. 23, 2008 Two die, two hurt in city shootings Early-morning gunfire yesterday raised this year's number of Phila. homicides to 153. By Andrew Maykuth Inquirer Staff Writer Two men were killed and two others seriously wounded in three separate shootings about the same hour early yesterday in Philadelphia. University of Pennsylvania police chased and stopped a vehicle with three occupants minutes after they found Nathaniel Crawford, 26, mortally wounded about 1:12 a.m. in front of the University City Townhouses in the 3900 block of Market Street. Crawford, of the 2200 block of Fitzwater Street, was pronounced dead at the Hospital at the University of Pennsylvania with gunshot wounds to the abdomen and back. He had been shot after an argument, said Lt. Mark Deegan of the homicide unit. Penn police stopped a blue Chevrolet Impala several blocks from the shooting and questioned three men, but no charges were filed immediately, Deegan said. Crawford, who has a history of drug convictions including a February guilty plea for drug possession for which he received two year's probation, was scheduled to go to trial tomorrow on a January charge of drug possession and conspiracy. <snip> In the Kingsessing section of Southwest Philadelphia, three people whom police did not identify were wounded by gunfire about 1 a.m. in the 1100 block of South 52d (sic) Street. A 26-year-old man was shot in the head and was reported in grave condition at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, said Detective James Revell of Southwest Detectives. Another man was shot in the neck and shoulder and was reported in critical condition. A woman was shot in the knee and was treated and released, he said. No arrests were made, Revell said. The two homicides bring the total in Philadelphia to 153, compared with 193 by the same date last year.
