Shooter At Pat's Steaks Tells Cops, 'I Was Getting My Ass Kicked'

By Ralph Cipriano
for BigTrial.net

When the suspect turned himself in after shooting a man to death outside Pat's King of Steaks early yesterday morning, the cops asked him what happened.

"I was getting my ass kicked in a fight but I don't know what happened and I shot the guy," Paul Burkert, 36, of Reading told the cops.

When the cops asked about the whereabouts of the white Nissan van that Burkert had attempted to escape in before turning himself in, Burkert replied, "I said all I'm gonna say and I'm done talking." 

The D.A.'s office charged Burkert with murder, reckless endangerment, obstruction, tampering with evidence, conspiracy, possession of an instrument of crime, plus two gun charges -- firearms not to be carried without a license, and carrying firearms on public streets or property.

It was a high-profile murder that involved two big Philadelphia tourist attractions. The fight that preceded the murder took place while the suspect was standing in line outside the popular South Philly cheesesteak palace ordering two pizza steaks. After he shot David Padro, 23, of 2700 block of Federal Street in Camden, Burkert fled in a van, before turning himself in to park rangers at Sixth and Chestnut, near Independence Hall.

As of today, the city's homicide total is at 314, up 35% from 232 murders on this same date a year ago when the city racked up a near-record 499 murders, one shy of the all-time homicide record set back in 1990 at 500. 

At this rate, the city will set an all-time record this year with 673 murders. Meanwhile, CBS Philly was reporting that Philadelphia has pulled past Chicago and now has the distinction of having the highest per capita murder rate among the country's ten largest cities. 

Now there's an accomplishment that District Attorney Larry Krasner, Mayor Jim Kenney and Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw can all be proud of as they continue to pander to the public about the gun violence and bloodshed that they are clearly powerless to stop. 

 The fight at Pat's started out in the street, when a couple of women pulled into a parking space. 

A woman subsequently identified as Burkert's girlfriend, who was sitting in a 2015 white Nissan van, accused the two women of hitting her car. They denied it, and an argument ensued.

During the argument, witnesses told the cops, Burkert came over to the van saying "Yo, Yo, Yo," and he started arguing as well. 

That's when Padro allegedly got involved, telling Burkert not to talk to the women like that. 

Another witness told the cops that Burkert told Padro to "stop that macho shit," and that Padro told him to relax.

According to witnesses, Burkert told Padro, something like, "When I get this cheesesteak, I'm going to fuck you up."

At approximately 12:55 a.m., the argument escalated into a fistfight. In a 28-second cell phone video of the incident taken by a witness, Padro clearly comes off as the aggressor. 

"What the fuck you talking, nigger," Padro is heard saying before he charges Burkert at full speed, ramming him at shoulder height.

After he collided with Burkert, Padro fell down. And then, as Padro was getting up, Burkert took a swing at Padro's face, which only served to further anger Padro.

Padro is heard calling Burkert a nigger three times. Then, Padro got Burkert into a headlock and yelled, "Let me tell you something" three times before the fight went out of reach of the witness filming it on a cell phone.

Witnesses told the cops that Burkert's girlfriend, identified as Jamie Frick, then took a metal bucket used to hold straws at Pat's and bashed Padro over the head with it.

Padro appeared to lose consciousness for a few seconds, one witness said. Another witness told the cops that after he was hit on the head, Padro released his headlock on Burkert and staggered into the street.

Then, Burkert pulled out a gun from his waist, bent over and extended both arms in a shooting position known as the "Weaver Stance," and shot Padro once in the back.

Padro, according to a witness, took a deep breath and walked toward a car, trying to hold himself up before he collapsed in the street. 

That's when Burkert fled in the white Nissan van. Meanwhile, Padro was taken to Jefferson University Hospital where he was pronounced dead at 1:23 a.m. A medical examiner subsequently told the police that the one shot that struck Padro traveled through his left shoulder and chest. 

Before the fight started, witnesses said, they heard more inflammatory racial rhetoric.

A worker at Pat's told police that before the fight broke out, Burkert was at the takeout window, muttering something about "white power."

And during the argument that preceded the fight, witnesses said, Padro was heard yelling, "White power, huh? White power. Is that what you want?" before he charged Burkert.

Police found a 9 mm fired casing outside, Pat's plus one live 9 mm round.

The victim's girlfriend, Amber McShane, 24, also of Camden, was taken to Jefferson bleeding from a head wound. She told the cops that she had been struck with a metal object.

That's when the cops had to break the news to McShane that her boyfriend was dead.