2 charged in connection with Philadelphia shooting that killed 3 and wounded 11 others
Two men are in custody and have been charged in connection with Saturday's shooting in Philadelphia that killed 3 and wounded 11 others, authorities said Monday.
One of them, Quran Garner, is facing multiple charges, including two counts each of aggravated assault and aggravated assault on law enforcement officers, authorities said in a press conference Monday.
The other, who was apprehended by U.S. Marshals Monday evening, was later identified by police as 34-year-old Rashaan Vereen, CBS Philadelphia reports. He's facing attempted murder and aggravated assault counts, among others.
Vereen was taken into custody without incident, CBS Philadelphia says. Officials also searched his home for weapons but didn't find any.
Assistant District Attorney Joanne Pescatore said at the Monday press conference that Garner was seen on video shooting "toward the area" where a confrontation between two other individuals was taking place. According to Pescatore, at around 11:30 p.m. on Saturday, Gregory Jackson and Micah Townes got into an argument, during which Jackson hit Townes in the face. Townes was then thrown against a window by Jackson and the other charged individual, and the two continued hitting Townes, Pescatore said.
Jackson, who had a permit to carry, eventually took out a gun and fired at Townes, who at that point was in the middle of South Street, Pescatore said. Townes, who also had a carry permit, returned fire and fatally shot Jackson. The unnamed person who was with Jackson then picked up Jackson's gun and gave it to someone else who fled the scene, Pescatore said.
At that point, Garner allegedly started firing his own weapon in the direction of where Jackson and Townes had been shooting. According to Pescatore, Garner stopped firing and then pointed his gun in the direction of police officers, who then then fired at Garner, hitting him in the hand.
After fleeing the scene, Garner then approached several other officers who were at the location of another shooting that happened about an hour earlier. Garner told those officers he had been shot in the South Street shooting, and the police took him to the hospital, Pescatore said. He was undergoing surgery at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital as of Monday evening.
The gun Garner used was a ghost gun and it had an extended magazine, Pescatore said. Another of the at least four guns that were used in Saturday night's shooting has also been recovered, Pescatore said.
Townes remains hospitalized at Penn Presbyterian Medical Center in serious condition, Pescatore said. He is not being charged, Pescatore said.