Victim by Victim: A year of Philadelphia homicide

 

MORGAN ZALOT & DAVID GAMBACORTA, Daily News Staff Writers zalotm@phillynews.com, 215-854-5928

Posted: Thursday, December 27, 2012, 5:49 AM

IT WAS ABOUT midnight on Dec. 11, a bitterly cold night, but people on a block of Wingohocking Street in Nicetown were out on their porches and the street.

Most had been awakened by the sound of at least 40 shots from an AK-47 rifle and a handgun tearing through the night in a residential neighborhood near 19th and Wingohocking streets.
The hail of bullets took the life of 23-year-old Isaac Jenkins, the city's 321st homicide victim of 2012.
A young mother afraid to give her name stepped up to the yellow tape marking the murder scene, tears brimming in her eyes.
"This is a horrible area. My son, I'm trying to get him out of here," she said, her voice quivering with fear and anger.
Jenkins' killer or killers fled and remain on the loose, but 43 yellow police markers were left in their wake, marking the spots on the street where bullet casings and fragments had landed.
"Are you serious?" the young mother asked. "All those bullet casings out here."

   Through Dec. 20, there were 1,243 shooting victims in the city, which works out to one victim every six hours, 51 minutes.

Amazingly, that figure represents an 8.5 percent decrease from a year ago, but the numbers don't necessarily add up to good news.
Victim by Victim: A year of Philadelphia homicide