North Philadelphia Teen Faces Murder, Attempted Murder Charges After Weekend Shooting At Rec Center
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - Police have arrested and charged a North Philadelphia man in the shooting death Sunday night of a father who had come to the aid of his son after a fight.
Police Department homicide unit captain James Clark says a SWAT team and members of his unit took 18-year-old Amir Jamal, of the 3200 block of West Norris Street, into custody this morning without incident.
Clark says numerous tips led to the suspect.
The shooting happened Sunday night about 8 p.m. outside the Mander Recreation Center at 33rd and Diamond Streets in the Strawberry Mansion section of the city (see related story).
According to police, there was an unauthorized party going on at the rec center, with perhaps 150 to 200 people there at the time, when one neighborhood teen got into a fight with others.
Investigators say after the 14-year-old boy went home to tell his father about the altercation, the father -- 30-year-old Nyeme Taylor -- brought his son back to the playground and told the aggressors that his son would fight all five of them, one at a time.
Capt. Clark says after the son started getting the better of one of the five, all five opponents ganged up on the son. Then when Taylor tried to pull them off his son, Jamal allegedly pulled out a gun and fired.
Taylor was hit in the head and killed on the spot. Stray bullets also hit Taylor's 15-year-old daughter, as well as two other girls, aged 10 and six. All the girls are now in stable condition.
Just a few days earlier, Mayor Michael Nutter had helped open city pools at that very same location (see related story).
Reported by Steve Tawa, KYW Newsradio 1060
