Two Men Held For Trial In Hunting Park Robbery Gone Bad
By Tony Hanson
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - Two men have been ordered held for trial for an alleged robbery gone bad. Authorities allege the killers planned to rob copper thieves inside the vacant Budd railcar and metal manufacturing facility in Hunting Park, but it ended in gunfire.
Alleged shooter Gregory Giddings told police he was supposed to get a cut because the copper thieves borrowed his tools, but when they tried to leave, with all the copper and his tools, driving right at him, he fired in self-defense.
But Prosecutor Carolyn Naylor says his statement is self-serving.
"He could have moved. And also he says his another part that he shot because he didn't want them to leave with the equipment, which gives the idea that motive was not to prevent himself from being struck but was to prevent them from leaving from that car. The other indication is that he said 'I only shot at the tires' but that make sense with the medical examiner's evidence that the decedent was struck by a bullet in the upper back."
And police say a co-defendant, the defendant's brother, says it was a planned robbery. The defense attorneys declined comment.
