Inquirer.com – Zurich DR

Author: Vinny Vella

  • Chester man convicted of murder for killing two of his coworkers at Delaware County Linen

    Chester man convicted of murder for killing two of his coworkers at Delaware County Linen

    A Chester man who gunned down two of his coworkers during an armed rampage two years ago was convicted of murder Friday.

    Wilbert Rosado-Ruiz, 63, was also convicted of four counts of attempted murder — three for other coworkers he wounded in the May 2024 shooting, and one for another man he attempted to shoot before his gun jammed.

    Rosado-Ruiz had no reaction as the verdict was handed down by Delaware County Court Judge Kevin Kelly, who presided over the bench trial. Kelly will sentence Rosado-Ruiz in October. A conviction for first-degree murder carries a mandatory penalty of life in prison.

    Leovanny Peña Peña, 30, and Giguenson Peña Peña, 26, were killed by Rosado-Ruiz during the shooting at Delaware County Linen, an industrial laundry facility where he had worked for 10 years. The three other victims were seriously wounded, including Charles Doyle, who said that he suffered severe internal injuries that have left him with limited use of his arms.

    During his trial before Kelly, Rosado-Ruiz testified that he acted in self-defense: A group of his coworkers, including the Peña Peña brothers, cornered him inside the facility and threatened to kill him and his family.

    The brothers, he said, were holding knives as they slowly walked toward him.

    Prosecutors disputed Rosado-Ruiz’s version of events. Evidence from the scene, including surveillance footage and witness accounts, showed Rosado-Ruiz was the aggressor, screaming that he was “tired” of his coworkers during an argument near the facility’s time clock.

    He then pulled out his 9mm handgun and opened fire, according to Nilamarie Valdivieso, the first person Rosado-Ruiz shot that morning.

    In her closing arguments, Assistant District Attorney Sophia Polites said none of the victims were armed, and no weapons were recovered from the scene. She asserted that Rosado-Ruiz went room-to-room, searching for more victims as they fled from the initial gunfire, and at one point paused to reload his gun before continuing to fire.

    Rosado-Ruiz intended to kill more people, according to the prosecutor, and would have done so had his gun not jammed. He fled the scene, and was arrested by a Trainer police officer not far from his home.

  • Chester County man pleads guilty to human trafficking for forcing girls to work on mushroom farm

    Chester County man pleads guilty to human trafficking for forcing girls to work on mushroom farm

    A Chester County man who forced two teenage girls, one of them a relative, to work long hours on a Kennett Square mushroom farm for no pay pleaded guilty Thursday to human trafficking, involuntary servitude, and related crimes.

    Ramiro Caal Jolomna, 37, threatened to have the girls deported back to their homes in Guatemala if they did not comply with his demands, Senior Deputy Attorney General Zachary Mills Wynkoop said.

    Pennsylvania Attorney General Dave Sunday, whose office investigated the case through its human trafficking division, called crimes like Jolomna’s “cruel and dehumanizing behavior that forces victims into a routine of helplessness and silence.“

    The victims, who were 14 and 17 when interviewed by state investigators in 2024, said Jolomna helped transport them to Chester County with a promise of giving them better lives and the opportunity to earn money to send back to their families.

    Instead, prosecutors said, Jolomna, of New Garden Township, took their salaries from the mushroom farm for himself.

    The younger victim told investigators that she had been working on the mushroom farm since she was 12 years old, and that Jolomna had been signing her paychecks over to himself and his wife.

    After working predawn shifts at the farm, the girl was forced to act as the couple’s housekeeper, and was not even given new clothing to wear, Wynkoop said.

    The other victim told investigators Jolomna charged her rent to live in his home alongside nine other people and forced her to reimburse him for the cost of her flight to America. These debts prevented her from sending money home to her father, who was sick and unable to work, the prosecutor said.

    At one point, Jolomna’s parents contacted the older victim’s parents and asked them for more money, according to the affidavit of probable cause for his arrest. The girl said she “did not know what would have happened if her parents said no,” the document said.

    In an interview with prosecutors, Jolomna admitted to having debts from “smuggling” the girls into the country and to taking the girls’ paychecks to use for food and other items, according to the affidavit.

    Jolomna will be sentenced in the coming months by Chester County Court Judge Debra Ryan.

  • A Chester man was convicted in his friend’s murder after recruiting him for the botched ambush of their rival

    A Chester man was convicted in his friend’s murder after recruiting him for the botched ambush of their rival

    A Chester man who recruited his friend to carry out the execution of a criminal rival in June 2024, only to have that friend die during the botched ambush, was convicted of first-degree murder by a Delaware County jury.

    Jesse Allen Jr., 20, was charged with the murder of Zaheem Sabree, even though he did not fire the shot that killed him, under the legal theory of transferred intent. The person who pulled the trigger, Tyjohn Walker-Jones, 18, was the target of Allen and Sabree, who were out for revenge after Walker-Jones allegedly killed their friend weeks earlier.

    Text messages presented during Allen’s three-day trial showed that he had begun plotting Walker-Jones’ death immediately after the murder of Sabrie “Breezy” Pierce.

    “Everybody gone pay,” Allen said in the message, displayed in court.

    Surveillance footage from a nearby deli recorded Allen and Sabree walking together down 24th Street on the day of the shooting, then hiding nearby — Allen in shrubbery and Sabree behind a concrete wall. Moments later, Walker-Jones is seen on the video walking through the area and then ducking behind a parked car as the gunfire rang out, prosecutors said.

    Shell casings found at the scene showed that Walker-Jones and Sabree shot at each other multiple times — Sabree with a .45-caliber pistol and Walker-Jones with a 9mm, prosecutors said. Walker-Jones and Allen then fled in opposite directions.

    Sabree was found near that scene, shot in the head. Police took him to Crozer-Chester Medical Center, where he was later pronounced dead.

    The jersey of Chester High School football player Zaheem Sabree hangs on the fence while the Chester High School before a game in August 2024. Sabree was gunned down in Chester during the botched ambush of another teen.Yong Kim / Staff Photographer

    Allen’s attorney, Brian Malloy, urged jurors in his closing arguments to acquit his client. The real killer, he said, was Walker-Jones, who, while awaiting trial in Pierce’s murder, was given a “two-for-one deal” by prosecutors.

    During Allen’s trial, Walker-Jones, who was not charged in connection with Sabree’s death, took the stand and admitted to shooting Sabree in the head.

    “He knows he has to play along, say what he has to say, but actions speak louder than words,” Malloy said. “We watched videos of him killing two people, and he’s not sitting at this table, and that’s a crazy thing.”

    Malloy suggested that Walker-Jones was the aggressor, chasing Allen and Sabree as they walked through Chester.

    But Deputy District Attorney Matt Krouse said Allen took deliberate steps to plan the ambush and was directly responsible for Sabree’s death.

    Allen directed Sabree, a star football player at Chester High School and an honors student at STEM Academy, to wear all black and meet him at a deli in Walker-Jones’ neighborhood, which was nowhere near his own, Krouse said. He deliberately left his cell phone at a friend’s house, knowing his movement would be tracked.

    And after the shooting, Allen, in text messages, bristled at the rumor circulating through Chester that he had left his wounded friend to die, saying he had no choice.

    “He knew already on June 30, 2024 that he was guilty of everything he was charged with,” Krouse said. “But just like he ran from his so-called best friend to avoid the consequence of his actions, that’s what he’s trying to do today and this week.”

    Allen is to be sentenced in October. Walker-Jones’ trial in the death of Sabrie Pierce is scheduled to be held later this year.

  • Delco officials are investigating a racist voicemail threatening the county sheriff

    Delco officials are investigating a racist voicemail threatening the county sheriff

    Delaware County detectives are investigating a racist, threatening voicemail left for county Sheriff Siddiq Kamara, officials said Monday.

    The caller, whom police are working to identify, used a racial slur to refer to Kamara, who is Black, and called for “death to Islam.” Kamara is a Muslim whose family came to Delaware County from their native Liberia.

    The caller also told Kamara he was going to hunt, attack, and torture him when Kamara least expects it, according to a recording of the voicemail that was reviewed by The Inquirer.

    “I will find you. I know where you are,” the male caller said. “You are an amateur.”

    Kamara, in a statement, said despite the caller’s attempts to intimidate him, the incident has strengthened his resolve.

    “Let me be clear: There is a fundamental difference between criticism and criminal conduct. Public officials should expect scrutiny, disagreement, and accountability — that is part of our democracy,” he said. “But threats of violence, intimidation, and hate cross the line and will be treated accordingly.”

    Kamara, 31, was elected sheriff in November. He is the youngest person in county history to hold the position.

    A career police officer, Kamara said he was motivated to run for office after a personal tragedy: His cousin, Fanta Bility, was struck and killed by a stray bullet fired by Sharon Hill police officers in 2021.

    In a statement Monday, the Delaware County Council said it “unequivocally condemns these threats in the strongest possible terms” and stands with Kamara.

    Members of the Philadelphia chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations called the incident “the latest example of the growing climate of intolerance that seeks to intimidate public servants based on their race, religion, or national origin.

    “No public official should be subjected to racist intimidation for simply serving their community,” Ahmet Tekelioglu, executive director of CAIR-Philadelphia, said. “Attacks like these are not only directed at one individual They are intended to send a message of fear to entire minority groups — particularly the Black, immigrant, and American Muslim communities.”

  • Bucks County sheriff’s deputy took naked pics of people in custody and shared them, DA says

    Bucks County sheriff’s deputy took naked pics of people in custody and shared them, DA says

    A Bucks County sheriff’s deputy used his personal cell phone to take naked pictures of two people he encountered as part of his job, including a mentally ill man at whose home he was serving an arrest warrant, prosecutors said Monday.

    Ryan Gaffney, 46, has been charged with official oppression for taking the photos, as well as unsworn falsification to authorities for lying about the photos and attempting to dissuade investigators by sending them doctored screenshots of his phone’s photo library.

    Gaffney, of Feasterville, shared the photos to get “his kicks” with civilian employees at the Bucks County Justice Center, Bucks County District Attorney Joe Khan said at a news conference Monday.

    “Mr. Gaffney’s conduct is a disgrace. It’s an abuse of the trust given to him by the sheriff’s office and by taxpayers,” Khan said. “When a deputy sheriff breaks the law, and lies about it, he erodes the public trust that our law enforcement officers work every day to build.”

    Gaffney was charged via summons, and has not yet been arraigned on the charges, court records show. He was fired from his position with the county sheriff’s office in June, officials said Monday.

    Ryan Gaffney was sworn in as a Bucks County sheriff’s deputy in 2023.Courtesy Bucks County Commissioners

    Gaffney’s attorney, Paul Lang, said Monday that he will “address this case in court, not through one-sided social media posts or press conferences.”

    “Ryan Gaffney deserves due process, not trial by publicity,” Lang said. “These are allegations, not facts, and we look forward to answering them where they belong, in a courtroom.”

    The photo of the first victim was taken Jan. 30, when Gaffney and four other sheriff’s deputies served a warrant at the man’s home in Middletown Township, according to the affidavit of probable cause for his arrest.

    When the deputies arrived, the document said, the man was naked from the waist down, and asked deputies to allow him to put pants on. Before he could do so, Gaffney used his personal cell phone to take a photo of the man’s genitals, according to the affidavit.

    A review of Gaffney’s body-worn camera footage showed that he placed his hand over the camera while taking the surreptitious photo. Other deputies at the scene said they were unaware that Gaffney had taken the photo until later.

    One of those deputies saw Gaffney sharing the photo with female civilian employees at the courthouse, and reported his conduct, the affidavit said. Investigators later learned he had also texted the photo to other contacts in his cell phone.

    Bucks County Sheriff Danny Ceisler said Monday that he reported Gaffney’s conduct to Khan’s office immediately after learning about it.

    The former deputy’s behavior, Ceisler said, “was beyond unacceptable and not in any way representative of the highly professional deputies who serve this county with integrity every day.”

    While investigating the case, county detectives found that Gaffney had taken a photo of another person during a separate arrest in December 2024.

    A photo of that person’s buttocks, taken while he was handcuffed, was shared with 12 people, including other members of the sheriff’s office’s warrant division, the document said.

    While being questioned by investigators, Gaffney denied taking the photographs and signed a sworn affidavit affirming that. Through his attorney, he also provided screenshots of his phone’s photo library that showed the photos were not on the device.

    However, investigators downloaded the contents of Gaffney’s phone, and were able to recover both images, which had been deleted.

    Gaffney was sworn in as a sheriff’s deputy in June 2023.

    Before joining the office, Gaffney served in Iraq with the Air Force in 2005, and as a part-time officer with Penndel Police, according to Bucks County Commissioners.

    Gaffney also works as a part-time officer with Hulmeville Borough Police, one of three members of the police force in the small municipality, and was sworn in there in late 2022, according to a borough newsletter published in January 2023.

    Hulmeville Police Chief John Baran did not respond to a request for comment Monday.

  • Men who posed as cops during botched highway robbery will face trial in Chester County

    Men who posed as cops during botched highway robbery will face trial in Chester County

    In a matter of seconds, a highway traffic stop in Tredyffrin Township sent Joel Perez Rodriguez from confusion, to panic, to fear.

    When he saw red-and-blue emergency lights in his rearview mirror, he did what any law-abiding citizen would do, Chester County prosecutors said Thursday: He pulled onto the shoulder of the Pennsylvania Turnpike.

    But Assistant District Attorney Monica Szyszkiewicz said the men who approached Perez Rodriguez’s vehicle on March 28 were not police officers — they were criminals, in league with his sister’s uncle, hired to rob Perez Rodriguez of $49,000 his sister had given him an hour earlier at her home in Germantown.

    The botched robbery ended with Perez Rodriguez shot in the chest, as other bullets narrowly missed his wife and 4-year-old son.

    Two of those men, Roberto Morel, 51, and Tuften Green, 31, were held for trial Thursday evening on charges of attempted murder, aggravated assault, attempted theft, and related crimes after an hours-long preliminary hearing before District Judge Lauren Holt. Holt dismissed kidnapping charges the men faced, arguing there was a lack of evidence to support them.

    The third suspect, Terrell Adams, 38, waived his hearing, and will also be held for trial.

    Lawyers for Morel and Green told Judge Holt that Szyszkiewicz and Pennsylvania State Police investigators had built their case entirely on circumstantial evidence.

    Morel’s attorney, Timothy Tarpey, said his client did not spend time with Perez Rodriguez during the three days he and his family visited his sister, and asserted he had no knowledge of the money being exchanged.

    But Szyszkiewicz said investigators, using a litany of surveillance footage and cell phone data, had been able to reconstruct the entire plot, which began with the three men meeting up hours before the shooting at a gas station in Germantown. Video from that location, played in court, showed Morel and Green arriving at the same time, in separate vehicles, and discussing their plan, according to Trooper Adam McLaughlin.

    “They conspired to pull the victim over for what other reason than to get the money they had received an hour before,” she said, arguing it was no coincidence that Morel had a clear connection to Perez Rodriguez. “Why else would they do that?”

    Green’s attorney, Brian McCarthy, said despite the voluminous text messages prosecutors had pored over between his client and Morel, neither man made specific mention of a robbery, nor was there any attempt during the car stop to take the money from the car’s backseat.

    Holt was not swayed.

    Another video, taken from a Ring surveillance camera near where Perez Rodriguez’s sister lives showed the three men began following his car moments after he pulled out of her driveway, en route to his home in North Carolina.

    And data pulled from Green’s smartphone showed he was on the phone with Morel throughout the entire chase and subsequent shooting. The call ended, Szyszkiewicz said, when Perez Rodriguez fled the scene.

    His sister owns a bodega in Germantown and had given him the $49,000 to invest in his tobacco business back in North Carolina.

    As the family was driving westbound on the Pennsylvania Turnpike, they were being tailed by a Chevrolet Suburban being driven by Adams, investigators said Thursday, as well as a Honda CRV driven by Morel.

    Text messages revealed Green and Morel had discussed adding emergency lights to the SUV, exchanging pictures of them both before and after they had been attached to the vehicle’s dashboard, according to testimony Thursday.

    Once those lights were activated, Perez Rodriguez pulled over. He assumed, he said Thursday, that the occupants of the car behind him were undercover officers.

    Green and Adams approached his car. Both were dressed in all black, with Adams wearing a hat with “police” sewn into it.

    Right away, Perez Rodriguez said he knew something was wrong with the so-called officers. The way they spoke and carried themselves made him suspicious.

    His suspicions were confirmed when Green, seeing Perez Rodriguez’s wife was trying to dial 911, stuck a handgun into her ribs and tried to grab the phone from her.

    Perez Rodriguez sped away, and Green, according to prosecutors, fired the handgun five times.

    An Army reservist, coincidentally driving by in the aftermath of the shooting, saw Perez Rodriguez had pulled again onto the shoulder, and stopped to help, prosecutors said. She helped stabilize his gunshot wound until medics arrived to take him to Paoli Hospital.

    All three defendants will be arraigned in county court in West Chester later this month.

  • A Delco man who killed two of his coworkers told a judge that he acted in self-defense

    A Delco man who killed two of his coworkers told a judge that he acted in self-defense

    Wilbert Rosado-Ruiz’s fate was placed Wednesday in the hands of a Delaware County judge, who, in the coming week, will determine whether the shooting he committed where he worked, killing two people and wounding three others, was justified or an act of murder.

    At the close of his bench trial on charges of murder, attempted murder, and related crimes for the May 2024 shooting, Rosado-Ruiz, 63, testified that he felt his life was in danger and acted in self-defense. A group of his coworkers at Delaware County Linen had ganged up on him, he said, cornering him in the industrial laundry facility and threatening to kill him and his family.

    He had to shoot his way to safety, he said, because he knew at least two of them were armed with knives he had caught glimpses of.

    “I’m a person who would never try to hurt anyone,” he said. “Anyone who is inoffensive to me, anyone who would not try to hurt me, I would not try to hurt.

    “Now, if someone does try to make a move on my life, yes, I am someone who is armed, and I would defend myself.”

    Wilbert Rosado Ruiz, seen here in June 2024, told a judge that his coworkers had threatened to kill him, and that he shot at them in self-defense.Tyger Williams / Staff Photographer

    Rosado-Ruiz’s attorney, Kevin O’Neill, urged Judge Kevin Kelly to acquit his client of all charges, saying he had reacted to what he believed to be credible threats to his life and the lives of his loved ones.

    Assistant District Attorney Sophia Polites balked at that explanation during her closing arguments Wednesday. None of the victims were armed, and surveillance footage from the Chester business showed them running for their lives as Rosado-Ruiz chased them from room to room.

    Rosado-Ruiz, she said, shot at his fleeing coworkers because he wanted to, not because he needed to. He believed, she said, they had disrespected him.

    “This was not a decision made out of fear. This was about his ego,” Polites said. “One by one, the people he perceived to have disrespected him, they became his targets.”

    Brothers Leovanny Peña Peña, 30, and Giguenson Peña Peña, 26, were killed by Rosado-Ruiz after he clocked in for his early-morning shift.

    Testimony during the trial showed that Rosado-Ruiz had gotten into an altercation with another coworker, Nilamarie Valdivieso, while on a video call with his wife and daughter. Valdivieso testified that she approached Rosado-Ruiz to ask him why he was angry, and he responded explosively, screaming that he was “tired of all these people,” before pulling out his 9mm handgun and shooting Valdivieso in the shoulder.

    But Rosado-Ruiz offered a different version of that initial encounter. He testified that Valdivieso had hurled insults at him before threatening to cut his head off.

    The Peña Peña brothers, as well as other coworkers, joined Valdivieso, Rosado-Ruiz said, and formed a crowd to block him from leaving the room. He said he saw that the two brothers were carrying knives, and moved toward him in a threatening manner.

    That is when, he said, he opened fire.

    “I waited, and I really thought nothing would happen,” he said. “I didn’t want to hurt anyone.”

    Rosado-Ruiz remained on the video call with his family throughout the initial encounter and eventual shooting, but his wife and daughter testified that they could not see or hear the shooting as it took place.

    But Polites, the prosecutor, said evidence in the case, including surveillance footage of the encounter, showed that the people around Rosado-Ruiz scattered at the sight of his gun.

    After shooting Valdivieso, he shot Leovanny Peña Peña three times before chasing the other people who fled. Rosado-Ruiz caught up with Giguenson Peña Peña after he had exited the building, and shot him as he ran away from him, according to prosecutors.

    None of the victims were armed, despite what Rosado-Ruiz said he saw, Polites said.

    Judge Kelly said he will deliver his verdict on July 22.

  • Glenside man charged with attempted murder for running over a 24-year-old he believed stole a bike, prosecutors say

    Glenside man charged with attempted murder for running over a 24-year-old he believed stole a bike, prosecutors say

    A Glenside man intentionally drove his Jeep into a cyclist, Montgomery County prosecutors said Monday, throwing the victim 90 feet and leaving him in critical condition with a serious head injury.

    Phillip Prince, 40, has been charged with attempted murder and related crimes in the crash, which took place Sunday evening on Meyer Avenue.

    It was not clear if Prince had hired an attorney.

    Investigators said Prince crashed into Colin Cassidy, 24, as Cassidy and a group of teens were riding bikes through Glenside. Multiple witnesses said Prince intentionally sped up “full throttle,” drove onto a sidewalk, and crashed into Cassidy just before 8:30 p.m., according to the affidavit of probable cause for his arrest.

    Prince told one of those witnesses that he was chasing Cassidy because he believed Cassidy had stolen the BMX bike Cassidy was seen riding through Glenside, the affidavit said.

    One of the teens who was with Cassidy on Sunday told police Cassidy had been riding a scooter before briefly disappearing and returning with the bicycle, according to the affidavit.

    Not long after, Prince drove up to the group in a Jeep Cherokee, attempted to grab Cassidy, and began chasing them.

    After the crash, as Prince went over to the unresponsive Cassidy, the teen turned off the Jeep and took the keys out of the vehicle so Prince would not drive away, the affidavit said.

    Prince and teen got into a brief fight, during which Prince punched the teen in the mouth, police said.

    Prince was still at the scene when Abington Township police arrived and took him into custody.

    Cassidy was taken to Jefferson Abington Hospital, where he underwent surgery for severe head trauma. He remained there Monday in critical condition, according to investigators.

  • Teen charged with killing pizza delivery driver during a robbery in North Philadelphia

    Teen charged with killing pizza delivery driver during a robbery in North Philadelphia

    A Queen Village teenager is accused of gunning down and robbing a pizza delivery driver after luring him to an abandoned home in North Philadelphia last month, police said Saturday.

    Sincere Camps, 14, was arrested late Friday and charged with murder, robbery, conspiracy, gun violations, and related crimes in the June 5 death of Anshul Kuncha.

    Camps remained in custody and was denied bail. There was no indication he had hired an attorney.

    Kuncha, 28, was working as a driver for Pete’s Pizza on Ridge Avenue when he was shot once in the back of the head at the nearby Raymond Rosen Homes, a Philadelphia Housing Authority property on Edgley Street, according to police.

    Surveillance footage from the area showed two people following Kuncha as he walked to the property which, unknown to him, was abandoned.

    Investigators identified Camps as one of the people seen in that footage.

    Kuncha was an Indian national living in Philadelphia, according to an interview with his parents published in The Times of India. He had been living in the city for four years, his sister, Tanvi, told the publication. She described him as “a very loving and joyful person.”

    A LinkedIn profile associated with Kuncha showed he had graduated from Drexel University’s LeBow College of Business in 2024, and was also working as a data analyst for a company in Warminster.

  • High winds tear off roofs, partially collapse buildings across Philadelphia

    High winds tear off roofs, partially collapse buildings across Philadelphia

    Saturday’s afternoon storm damaged multiple buildings across Philadelphia, uprooted trees, and caused some streets to flood.

    As city officials gathered at news conference Saturday evening, Police Commissioner Kevin Bethel said that the city’s 911 dispatchers fielded 3,000 calls during a one-hour period during the height of the storm.

    Wind gusts, according to Mayor Cherelle L. Parker, topped out at 60 mph.

    Parker pledged that her office, as well as a number of other city agencies, will be working through the weekend to assess the damage and begin repairs.

    “All of our departments are here today to function as one Philadelphia,” she said. “Because in the midst of crisis, that is what we are supposed to do and that is to have full interdepartmental cooperation today, tonight, and until we make it through this crisis.”

    A woman named Sheila tries to find sneakers for her five children, as everything in her home was soaked. Her PHA building Aspen Way, at 55th and Vine Street, had its roof blown off by strong storms that passed through the area on Saturday afternoon.Elizabeth Robertson / Staff Photographer

    Parker, Bethel, and other city officials spoke near a Philadelphia Housing Authority property on Vine Street near 55th in West Philadelphia that had part of its roof blown off during the storm. Eleven units in the building were affected, officials said, and residents were relocated to nearby hotels.

    Those displaced residents will be moved into new PHA units on Monday, according to PHA president Kelvin A. Jeremiah, while repairs are completed.

    Elsewhere in the city, at least two buildings partially collapsed due to the storm: a vacant property at 24th Street near Washington Avenue, and another building in West Philadelphia on Lansdowne Avenue near 56th Street.

    Carroll Park, in West Philadelphia, had several trees toppled, as did Wharton Square Park in Point Breeze.

    Officials survey the damage to a PHA building, at 55th and Vine Street, that had its roof blown off by strong storms that passed through the area on Saturday afternoon.Elizabeth Robertson / Staff Photographer

    Peco reported that more than 34,000 residents across the region were still without power as of Saturday evening.

    City officials are urging residents to properly document any and all damage their property sustained during the storm — the city is in the process of obtaining state and federal funding to help offset the costs of repairs.

    Officials also warned residents to avoid downed trees and live wires, and could not confirm whether a tornado had caused any of the damage. The officials said they would work with weather experts to determine what sparked the severe storms.