for BigTrial.net
On New Year's Eve in the city's West Oak Lane section, two males wearing black hoodies fired ten shots at a 15-year-old boy, hitting him multiple times in the head.
The victim was pronounced dead at the scene.
On the air later that day, 6ABC broadcast the boy's death as the city's 499th murder of the year, the highest total in 30 years.
But an official spokesperson for the city's Police Department didn't agree, and neither did the cops' official crime statistics posted online. On the Police Department's official "Crime Mapper" website, the year's murder rate for 2020 remained frozen at the grand total of 498 murders as of 11:59 p.m. Dec. 31st.
Meanwhile, the city's police commissioner refused to talk about the body count. As cops around the city were buzzing about a possible official coverup.
Why wasn't the Police Department including the 15 year-old boy's murder in its official body count? Well, the mystery began shortly after news about the 1 p.m. murder was first sent across police computers. Under the headline about a "PGUN (PERSON WITH A GUN)," after details about the crime were listed, the bottom of the computer screen contained this note: "PER CAR2 DO NOT PRONOUNCE THAT SHOOTING VICTIM."
Was the first deputy commissioner ordering a cover up to prevent the city from hitting the embarrassing total of 500 murders? Or was he reacting to a murder involving a juvenile, at a time when survivors hadn't been notified?
When I emailed the police department's office of public affairs, here's the response I got from Officer Tanya Little:
"Thank you, and Happy New Year!"
Meanwhile, 6ABC tried to get an interview with Police Commissioner Outlaw, but she wasn't playing along.
By the end of the night, that note on police computers about Car2 ordering no official death pronouncement for the 15 year-old murder victim had disappeared.
But the shootings didn't stop. 6ABC reported that another man who was driving an SUV on the Schuylkill Expressway near the Girard Avenue bridge around 11 p.m. last night was shot in the head. His SUV flipped, and the resulting accident tied up traffic for four hours.
The victim, who might wind up being Murder Victim No. 500, was taken to the hospital, along with another man who was riding in the SUV. We'll stay tuned for further details.
The TV station subsequently went on the air to report the first homicide of 2021; a man in the 100 block of Ritner Street in South Philly who was shot and killed at around 12:30 a.m. this morning.
By the end of the night, the cops had recorded a total of 13 shootings and three murders to start the brand new year.
Can we just take a moment and think? . . . with over 2000 shooting victims in the city this year, if it wasn't for some of the best trauma centers in the country the murder rate in Philadelphia could have been in the thousandths!!!
ReplyDeleteIf the record was indeed altered to DELETE the "Car 2 remark".... that is a CRIME!!!! What kind of Mickey Mouse amateur hour is going on??? WHERE IS LARRY???
ReplyDelete18 Pa. C.S. 4911: Tampering with public records or information:
(a) Offense defined.--A person commits an offense if he:
(1) knowingly makes a false entry in, or FALSE ALTERATION OF, any record, document or thing belonging to, or received or kept by, the government for information or record...
It will be a couple of months before we have the "final official count". The 498 and 499 numbers are what they best minds are not able to classify as anything other than homicide. With 2249 victims shot, the violence is probably the worst in the history of the City. The medical and surgical miracles of the Level IV Trauma Centers are much advanced since 1990 and are saving the lives of gunshot victims that would have been lost in 1990.
ReplyDeleteDon’t forget about the 170+ suspicious deaths. More than half of them are clear cut homicides. Philly has been cooking the books for years, this is nothing new. Great reporting Ralph.
ReplyDeleteThis is a Model City, run by Criminal Incompetents.
ReplyDeleteAs long as They are protected in their Bunkers and not caught in a crossfire when they emerge, they See and Hear No Evil.
Lyin' Joe Biden will have These and Other Buffoons advise and desecrate the Office of the Presidency.
How could We expect these Kenney Clowns to produce factual evidence and data to perfectly expose their Rule??
Your Postings Ralph should be a Required Course in a Criminal Justice Program that emphasizes Actuarial Science as the Core to Understanding and Predicting Crime and this Society's Future.
Jules Feiffer, 50 Years Ago, forecasted Today in the Eponymous Play, Little Murders. Seeking the Truth out of the Mayhem we now witness would be like asking John Veasey during your Interviews with him to explain why he developed into a Contract Killer.
An Accomplished Politician is only a Lying Thieving Murderer who hasn't been caught and tried for Crimes yet to be proven.
A Happy Healthy and Safe New Year to All Who Have Managed to Survive One of the Worst Year's in Recorded Time and When 500 Murders can be explained as COVID Related.
Jason Brando
Golly if only we had a STATE POLICE under the control of a GOVERNOR and a STATE ATTORNEY GENERAL to pick up the slack when dimitted local authorities drop the ball... oh wait we do but both Gov. Wolf and attorney general shapiro would rather kiss Krasner/Kenney's rear than resolve actual problems.
ReplyDeleteI know the public schools are a joke. I assume the stats person went there. You have 498 at 11:59 PM on 12/30/20. You add 2 on 12/31/20. The final tally for the PPD ending the year is 498. Simpleton Outlaw Krasner math.
ReplyDeleteI imagine Deputy Commissioner Singleton had either 498 or 499 in the "GHOUL POOL". That was the popular name for the pool run in Homicide Division for many years.
ReplyDeleteLooks to me like natural selection is at work in Philadelphia.
ReplyDelete