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Category: Crime & Justice

Her son was killed in a mass shooting. Graduation day brought his family joy, grief — and an unexpected reunion.

Unable to sleep, Nyshyia Thomas stepped into the shower at 4 a.m.

She stood beneath the water longer than usual, feeling its warmth against her face and running down her skin, hoping it would carry her tears with it.

It was graduation day. A day she’d been waiting for since 2022, when her youngest son, DaJuan, started his freshman year at Jules E. Mastbaum High, where she had graduated years earlier, and where her eldest child had graduated as well.

Nyshyia Thomas gets ready to attend the Jules E. Mastbaum High School graduation, where her son DaJuan Brown was honored and would have graduated.Jessica Griffin / Staff Photographer

DaJuan was supposed to graduate on this day.

She stood at the base of her stairs, wrapped in a purple silk robe, and stared at the life-size cardboard cutout picture of him in her living room, her cheeks quivering through a smile.

DaJuan Brown was only 15 when he was one of five people shot and killed by a mentally ill man dressed in body armor who gunned people down at random on the streets of Kingsessing in July 2023.

He had just completed his freshman year at Mastbaum.

Now, three years later, college brochures regularly arrived in the mail, addressed to him.

Mail from different colleges has often arrived addressed to Nyshyia Thomas’ son, DaJuan. Jessica Griffin / Staff Photographer

Penn State. Indiana University of Pennsylvania. The Marines. Towson. Aviation school.

Each one like an arrow through his mother’s heart.

But now she had something to look forward to. Mastbaum was honoring DaJuan at its graduation ceremony Wednesday with a posthumous diploma.

“You did it, Juan Juan,” she told the cutout. “I’m so proud of you.”

She kissed his cheek and walked upstairs to get ready.

Thomas, 37, plumped her skin with Vaseline, dabbed her lips with coconut oil gloss, and carefully applied fluttering eyelashes with waterproof glue.

Then she dressed, all in white — the color of angels, of the doves they released at DaJuan’s funeral.

Nyshyia Thomas at the Mastbaum High School graduation, where her son Dajuan Brown was honored and would have graduated Wednesday. Jessica Griffin / Staff Photographer

Around 9 a.m., her eldest son, DaQuan Brown, called from jail, his morning voice slow and gravelly.

He has been incarcerated since August after police said he was among at least 15 people who fired guns aimlessly down the 1500 block of Etting Street during a block party last July, leaving three dead and 10 others wounded. Defense lawyers have said Brown, 22, and other partygoers thought they were being shot at and were defending themselves when they opened fire and unintentionally shot one another.

Prosecutors say that there was no one targeting the party, and that a loud “pop” triggered contagious gunfire. Anyone who fired a gun that night, officials said, is responsible for the carnage.

So Brown is in custody, held without bail, facing three counts of murder, 10 counts of attempted murder, and related crimes.

The father of her children was locked up, too. Police said that when they reviewed surveillance footage from that night on Etting Street, it showed TyeJuan Brown, 38, running down the block toward his son and the gunfire, holding a firearm, which he is barred from owning because of criminal convictions.

He was charged with illegal gun possession and had been held on $250,000 bail since August.

Nyshyia Thomas prayed for strength before attending what would have been her son’s high school graduation.Jessica Griffin / Staff Photographer

Thomas hadn’t heard from him in a few days. She suspected his cellblock was on lockdown again.

She often wonders: How is this my life?

One son killed in a mass shooting, another charged with committing one, and their father in jail.

On this morning, at least, DaQuan called.

“Stay strong today,” he told her.

“Love you,” she said. “Call me when it’s over, like 2 o’clock.”

Nyshyia Thomas kisses the life-size cardboard cutout picture of her son DaJuan Brown before leaving for what should have been his high school graduation ceremony.Jessica Griffin / Staff Photographer

Her nerves worsened as she, her daughter, and her mother-in-law arrived at the South Philadelphia venue. They were 15 minutes late. And where were her sisters?

“I told y’all hurry up!” she said into the phone.

Just wait, they told her. We’re almost there.

She paced the hall, deciding whether to take a seat without them, when she saw TyeJuan Brown walk through the door carrying three bouquets of yellow roses.

She ran into his arms and buried her head in his chest. Their daughter, NeSiyah, 15, turned away in tears, then dived into his arms. Their three faces nuzzled together at last.

TyeJuan Brown had been jailed since August, when police said he was seen on video with a gun, rushing toward the sounds of gunfire the night of the July 2025 mass shooting. After his bail was lowered, he surprised his family, including his daughter and the mother of his children, at what would have been his son’s high school graduation.Jessica Griffin / Staff Photographer

“How?” Thomas cried.

His bail was lowered last week, he said, so his sister posted the $250 necessary for his release and started planning the surprise.

She couldn’t stop touching his face. His cheeks were fuller, his skin was healthier. But his eyes, those rich mahogany ones she had loved since she was 12, were filled with relief. She kissed him deeply.

“All right, all right,” said his sister, Shikema. “We’re going to miss the graduation!”

Nyshyia Thomas, left, and TyeJuan Brown, reunite at what would have been their son DaJuan’s graduation day. They met when they were 12, and share three children.Jessica Griffin / Staff Photographer

Thomas could not stop giggling as she took her seat beside the broad-shouldered man she had known more than half her life and missed every day for 10 months.

Their relationship had its trials, and he had been jailed years ago for drug and gun charges. But with their eldest son now fighting a murder case, Thomas and her daughter needed him more than ever.

She interlaced her fingers through his, and leaned into his shoulder. NeSiyah kept glancing over at her father, as if to make sure he was still there.

But as the ceremony progressed, each moment of celebration wore on them. Their smiles faded. When the students from each vocational program stood to applause, Thomas pinched her eyes shut.

NeSiyah Thomas-Brown, Nyshyia Thomas, TyeJuan Brown, and Odessa Brown (left to right) experience a range of emotions during the graduation ceremony.Jessica Griffin / Staff Photographer

What would DaJuan have chosen? she wondered. Culinary or carpentry? Maybe film and video?

Name after name was called. Past the B’s, where DaJuan would have been mentioned.

Thomas clapped. NeSiyah sucked her thumb.

How would he have decorated his cap?

As the final students picked up their diplomas and the cheers waned, a quiet fell over the auditorium. It was time for the school to honor DaJuan.

Just at the sound of his name, Thomas’ eyes welled and she looked toward the ceiling.

Nyshyia Thomas, left, and Odessa Brown, right, at the Mastbaum High School graduation, where Thomas’ son and Odessa Brown’s grandson Dajuan Brown would have graduated.Jessica Griffin / Staff Photographer

Nyshyia Thomas wore a graduation cap she decorated with photos of her son DaJuan. Jessica Griffin / Staff Photographer

“It’s hard to find the right words to say goodbye to someone who had so much life to live,” assistant principal Amy Georgia Foster told the crowd. “He had a beautiful, silly streak in him, the kind of sweet, mischievous energy that made you feel the protective love of a grandparent.”

That’s my Juan Juan, Thomas thought.

“DaJuan undoubtedly left his mark on each one of us,” Foster said. “He brought warmth to our halls, and light to our lives.”

Thomas walked toward the stage, her face streaked with tears, her chest heaving. She embraced Foster and the teaching staff, and in her arms they placed a glass box frame, holding a red Class of 2026 stole, and his cap and gown. She pressed his diploma to her heart.

Principal David Lon, left, and the staff at Mastbaum High hand Nyshyia Thomas, center, and Odessa Brown, right, DaJuan’s stole, cap and gown, and diploma.Jessica Griffin / Staff Photographer

DaJuan Brown, 15, was killed in the Kingsessing mass shooting in July 2023. Jessica Griffin / Staff Photographer

The ceremony continued with final words from the class president, before all the students moved their tassels from left to right.

“Congratulations, Class of 2026!” their principal cheered.

Thomas and her family moved through the crowd toward the door. Beaming teens snapped selfies. Overjoyed mothers embraced their children.

She held hers in a picture frame.

Nyshyia Thomas walks through the auditorium after her son was honored.Jessica Griffin / Staff Photographer

June 13, 2026
55 children and teenagers charged in Hersheypark brawl

Fifty-five children and teenagers have been charged with misdemeanor and felony offenses for allegedly starting and participating in a large group fight at Hersheypark in April.

Children as young as 12 were among those charged, and all but three are younger than 18. The charges, according to police, include riot, aggravated assault, theft, and failure to disperse. The three adults charged are Omar Ibraham, 19, Jerome Ross, III, 18, and Quaneek Williams, 18, all of Harrisburg.

Officers were called to Hersheypark around 7 p.m. on April 3, the park’s opening day. Eyewitnesses told CBS News that a large group of teenagers ran through the food court, knocking over tables and chairs as security chased them. Videos posted from that day also showed teenagers running through the park while being pursued by security.

Charges were not announced until this week, after police reviewed park security footage and social media videos, and worked with schools to identify those allegedly involved. Derry Township Police Chief Garth Warner said that while arrests involving two or three juveniles are relatively common, the size of this group made the case notable.

“Because it was such a large incident where multiple [people] were involved, and there were other children there, it was prudent of us to hold everyone involved accountable,” Warner said.

No serious injuries were reported and no one outside the group involved was hurt.

More broadly, videos circulating online suggest that some teenagers in Pennsylvania are participating in a trend of public fights or “wilding out,” raucous behavior that is often filmed, posted, and treated as entertainment by peers.

One Instagram account, “Harrisburg the Best,” is filled with videos of teenagers fighting. The captions often include laughing emoji and, in some cases, first names of the people shown. In several videos, other teenagers appear to act as referees.

Kate Burdick, a senior attorney at the Juvenile Law Center, said cases like these are difficult because they involve both public safety concerns and adolescent development.

“Kids are going to convene, and that is a positive, prosocial event,” Burdick said. Although she does not condone fighting, she said she worries about the harm that can come from criminalizing adolescent behavior.

“Our recourse tends to be very punitive, whereas what we know about kids is that they’re still developing and have an immense capacity for change and growth,” she said. “A punitive response can cause additional trauma and doesn’t increase safety.”

Still, not every juvenile case results in a trial. Steve Jarmon, a Philadelphia lawyer who specializes in juvenile criminal defense, said juvenile courts are designed to consider what is in the best interest of the child. In some cases, that can mean probation or diversionary options that allow a child to avoid formal adjudication.

Because the charges were announced only this week, it remains unclear how many of the 55 cases will proceed to adjudication or trial.

June 12, 2026
‘This is not about Pride’: Police Commissioner Bethel addresses criticism of police response to Gayborhood

Addressing criticism of his department’s handling of crowd control at a Pride celebration in the Gayborhood over the weekend, Police Commissioner Kevin Bethel said Friday that his officers became overwhelmed by dueling events and unruly behavior from large groups of teenagers.

The turmoil — which led police to arrest 15 people and shut down street festivities in the LGBTQ+ neighborhood earlier than anticipated — stemmed from a change in the way the city celebrated Pride this year, Bethel said in a news conference at police headquarters.

The decision to hold Philadelphia’s official Pride celebration on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway on Sunday deviated from the tradition of holding it in the Gayborhood, according to Bethel, who said the competing events created a public safety risk.

In retrospect, he said, barricades that police set up on the Gayborhood sidewalks — another deviation from past celebrations there — might not have been a wise move.

“We now know that might not have been the right decision,” he said, noting they caused ‘frustration” among guests.

Bethel said the evening took a turn when large groups of people began arriving at both the Parkway and the Gayborhood, overwhelming the 600 officers dispatched across both events.

And in the Gayborhood, that included crowds of teenagers, some breaking out into fights, he said.

The commissioner said commanding officers made the decision to close down the streets near popular gay bars like Woody’s around 8 p.m. as a consequence.

To underscore the point, Bethel played a video of one of those altercations, which showed a throng of young people acting erratically, some yelling and pushing each other.

He called the arrival of young people to the Gayborhood a “surge” that saw teens “taking over” a parking lot and getting on top of cars.

“At that point there are some decisions that have to be made,” Bethel said. “We can’t have thousands of individuals swirling together.”

Bethel also acknowledged public outcry over images of police officers on horseback and motorbikes engaged in crowd control. Those officers had been dispatched to the Gayborhood from the Parkway event once crowds began to get out of hand, he said.

“That is not pretty — it is not pretty when you move people,” he said.

Responding to questions over the department’s enforcement at LGBTQ+ festivities, Bethel repeated his earlier assertion that the nature of the event had nothing to do with police response.

“All of this is not about Pride, it is not about the Gayborhood, it is not about anyone’s feelings about anything,” he said. “It is about safety.”

The commissioner added that he welcomed speaking again about the issue at City Council hearings called on the matter that will likely take place in the fall.

June 12, 2026
A Chester County cop made an illegal recording of the school board he served on. He lost both jobs.

For nearly 30 years, Anthony Falgiatore Sr. served his community in Chester County in two roles: as an East Whiteland Township police sergeant and a member of the Octorara Area Board of School Directors.

But Falgiatore lost both of those positions, resigning after Pennsylvania State Police charged him in January with illegally recording a closed executive session of the school board, a felony offense.

Last month, Falgiatore, 57, of Atglen, enrolled in an advanced rehabilitative disposition program for first-time offenders that will see his charges dismissed and expunged upon completion.

In a statement, Falgiatore’s attorney, Vince DiFabio, said neither he nor his client wished to comment on the case.

Members of the school board that served with Falgiatore before he resigned after a decade said they were frustrated that someone who swore to uphold the law would violate it so blatantly.

Brian Fox, who served as the board’s president when the 32-minute recording was made, said Falgiatore’s actions were a “betrayal of trust.”

“The thing that made it egregious was his role as a police officer,” Fox said in an interview. “These meetings are closed for a reason. We vote publicly, but we need to meet beforehand to discuss sensitive topics like personnel and legal matters.”

Fox said the April 17, 2023, executive session Falgiatore recorded was one in which they discussed a federal civil-rights lawsuit filed by John Ryan Miller, a local activist. Falgiatore, according to Fox, argued that the Octorara Area School District should not be paying the legal expenses for board members named in the lawsuit.

Anthony Falgiatore Sr. (center, in blue shirt), seen here in January 2020 with other board members, served on the Octorara Area School Board from 2015 until his resignation last year.Handout

Miller filed the suit against nearly 80 public officials in the county, including all of the Octorara Area school board except Falgiatore, asserting that his constitutional rights were violated when he was barred from speaking at a public meeting in 2022 and later arrested for trespassing when trying to speak at another meeting.

U.S. District Judge Karen S. Marston dismissed Miller’s suit in March 2024, court records show, saying he had failed to demonstrate that his First Amendment rights were violated by the school board.

A week after he recorded the meeting, Falgiatore wrote in a post on his public Facebook page that he opposed paying legal bills related to Miller’s lawsuit because it “is a private legal matter against the balance of the board members and other district staff in their private person capacity.”

“I am the only board member not named in the lawsuit because I honored my oath of office to protect and defend the US Constitution and the Pa State Constitution and persons rights,” he wrote. “The board denied a citizen the right to speak for 3 minutes during the public comments portion of a board meeting because the citizen would not follow a policy that requires a speaker to identify who they are.”

He said the board’s policy “does not supersede the constitution” and said the issue was one he was fighting on behalf of the constituents who elected him.

It was unclear how much Miller’s lawsuit cost the school board.

Falgiatore was elected to the Octorara Area school board in 2015, and served on it until his resignation in March 2025, days after state police began investigating the recording.

In a letter sent to the board, Falgiatore said he was resigning “so as not to be a distraction to the business of the board.”

Falgiatore’s career with East Whiteland Township police started in 1997, according to an article published in the West Chester Daily Local.

East Whiteland Township Police Chief G. Christian Yeager confirmed to a reporter that Falgiatore is no longer employed by the department but declined to comment further.

What motivated Falgiatore to make the illegal recording of the Octorara Area school board’s executive session remained unclear.

Investigators wrote in the affidavit of probable cause for Falgiatore’s arrest that an East Whiteland Township lieutenant discovered the audio file on his department-issued cell phone in March 2025. Falgiatore had named the file “OSB private meeting.”

Investigators did not say what prompted the East Whiteland lieutenant to search Falgiatore’s phone.

State police troopers played the recording for school board members, including Fox, who confirmed that it was made without their knowledge, the affidavit said.

Investigators also found Falgiatore exchanged texts with someone in December 2024, months after making the illegal recording.

The person, whom police did not name in court filings, instructed Falgliatore to make another recording like he did with the “Curtis blowup,” an apparent reference to the April 2024 executive session, which included then-Octorara Area School District business manager Jeff Curtis, the affidavit said.

(In an interview with state police, Curtis listened to the recording and said he recognized it as being a meeting at which he had “blown up” at Falgliatore, according to the affidavit.)

Two months after making the recording, in an interview with the Lancaster Patriot, a conservative news website, Falgiatore said he was the victim of a harassment campaign because of his support of Miller. He told the site that someone had sent anonymous, threatening letters to his home and began contacting the East Whiteland Township police after he “spoke up on behalf of Miller.”

Falgiatore and Miller were also interviewed together on an October 2023 episode of Lancaster Patriot’s podcast that discussed Miller’s lawsuit against the district.

Despite his stated support, Falgliatore said he was not part of the lawsuit — he was not named as a plaintiff — and was supporting Miller because he believed his rights were violated.

June 12, 2026
Former Philly SWAT officer who pepper sprayed protesters on I-676 will serve one year of probation

A former Philadelphia police officer who pepper sprayed several people on I-676 during the 2020 protests over George Floyd’s murder has pleaded no contest to assault and related crimes, ending a legal saga that captured national attention.

Richard P. Nicoletti, 41, will serve one year of probation in exchange for accepting punishment — but not admitting guilt — in the case.

In addition to assault, prosecutors had accused Nicoletti of reckless endangerment, official oppression, and possessing an instrument of a crime.

The former SWAT officer was one of two Philadelphia police officers charged with crimes for their conduct during that summer’s protest over racial justice and police brutality.

Nicoletti had served 12 years with the police department before he was fired over the incident in 2020. Then-Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw said she was “disgusted” by his conduct and then-Mayor Jim Kenney described his actions as unacceptable.

The Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office first sought to hold Nicoletti accountable in 2021, when prosecutors said his decision to pepper spray several protesters in the face amounted to a crime.

A city judge dismissed the criminal case against him, saying Nicoletti had been authorized by his commanders to clear protesters from the highway, but a different judge soon reinstated the charges.

The case then went before a jury in 2023 and ended in a mistrial.

Philadelphia SWAT officer Richard P. Nicoletti shown pepper spraying three kneeling protesters on I-676 on June 1. Nicoletti is now being charged with simple assault, reckless endangerment, official oppression, and possession of an instrument of crime.Courtesy Wolfgang Schwan

Prosecutors continued to press the case.

Nicoletti’s lawyers argued that a subsequent trial should be held outside of Philadelphia, where they suggested too many jurors had already formed opinions about the widely publicized demonstrations, which ended with police using tear gas against protesters on the Vine Street Expressway.

Common Pleas Court Judge Roxanne E. Covington agreed that the case should be moved to another jurisdiction.

Court records show that the case was later moved to Veterans Court, a system designed for people who have served in the military and who have been charged with generally low-level offenses. The court emphasizes treatment and services and is designed to rehabilitate, rather than incarcerate defendants.

Nicoletti served in the Army and was deployed several times to Iraq and Afghanistan, according to a fundraiser circulated to raise money for his defense.

In March, court records show, Nicoletti pleaded no contest to all 10 charges he faced in a proceeding overseen by Municipal Court Judge David C. Shuter.

A spokesperson for the district attorney’s office did not respond to multiple requests for comment on the case and its diversion to Veterans Court.

Nicoletti’s defense attorney, Charles Gibbs, did not immediately return a request for comment Friday.

June 12, 2026
Sen. Cory Booker said police departments should follow Camden County’s lead in using ‘cutting edge’ tech

U.S. Sen. Cory Booker stood Friday in the basement of the Camden County Police Department headquarters in downtown Camden, surrounded by floor-to-ceiling video screens displaying a lifelike training scenario: a distraught man teetering near the edge of a bridge, threatening to jump.

A young officer stepped forward and addressed the digital figure: “Just step back from the edge,” the officer said, “and come talk to me.”

The immersive simulation is part of a system the department uses to train officers to respond to volatile encounters without resorting to force — one piece of a growing suite of technology it has embraced over the last decade. Department officials credit those tools, along with broader policing reforms and community-engagement efforts, with helping reduce crime in a city once regarded as among the nation’s most dangerous.

Today, Camden’s homicide total sits at a four-decade low, while robberies, sexual assaults, and other violent crimes have also declined, according to police data.

Booker toured the department Friday to see those tools firsthand as he promotes federal legislation designed to help other law enforcement agencies adopt similar technology.

The proposal, known as the Violent Incident Clearance and Technological Investigative Methods Act, or VICTIM Act, would establish a Department of Justice grant program to help police departments increase staffing, purchase investigative technology, and train personnel to use it. Booker, a New Jersey Democrat, reintroduced the bipartisan legislation in March 2025 alongside Sen. John Kennedy, a Louisiana Republican.

The measure comes as violent crime has fallen sharply in many cities across the country in recent years, a trend Booker said lawmakers should sustain through continued investment.

“What they’re doing here is so innovative and cutting edge,” Booker said after the tour, pointing to Camden as an example for other departments to follow.

Inside the Camden County Police Department’s Real Time Tactical Operations Intelligence Center, analysts monitor live camera feeds, 911 calls, and data streams from license plate readers and other sources. The center provides officers with real-time information during emergencies, helps investigators track suspects, and identifies crime patterns throughout the city, said Chief Gabriel Rodriguez.

The intelligence center works in tandem with the department’s drone unit.

U.S. Sen. Cory Booker, joined by city officials, watches a drone demonstration atop the Camden County Police Department on June 12, 2026.Jose F. Moreno / Staff Photographer

Rodriguez said those tools, combined with training programs such as the simulation Booker observed Friday, have helped drive crime to new lows.

The city recorded 12 homicides in 2025, down from 17 the previous year and the fewest since 1985, according to department data. Violent crime also fell 6% last year, while robberies declined 12% and sexual assaults dropped 32%.

Camden has spent more than a decade reshaping its approach to policing, adding new technologies and investigative tools as funding became available. Booker said departments across the country cannot afford to stop investing in technology as criminal investigations become increasingly reliant on digital tools and real-time information.

“Technology is moving rapidly,” he said. “We’ve got to stay ahead of the curve, and that’s going to take constant investment.”

Several local officials joined Booker on the tour, including Camden Mayor Victor Carstarphen and Camden County Commissioner Director Louis Cappelli Jr., who highlighted the city’s crime reductions and broader public-safety gains as they walked through police headquarters.

Even so, police who have adopted technologies such as automated license plate readers and large-scale camera networks have drawn scrutiny from civil-liberties groups nationwide. And on Friday, Rodriguez acknowledged that some residents are skeptical of the department’s use of technology.

But he said many have also come to view it as a benefit, pointing to faster emergency response times and the department’s efforts to address quality-of-life concerns such as illegal dumping.

Some residents, Rodriguez said, are even curious enough to tour the facility themselves.

“A lot of communities often feel like they have too much of the policing they don’t want and not the policing that they need,” Booker added. “Standing here in Camden, where we’re finding ways … to make tremendous progress … the key for me is making sure that we can continue to get better and better as a state.

“Overall,” he said, “crime is going down in New Jersey. But we want to continue that momentum and not just see crime rates go down, but community strength and community partnerships go up.”

June 12, 2026
Acquitted of double murder as a teen, he now faces new charges in a West Philly shooting that left two dead

Andre Bowie was just 17 when he was arrested and charged with killing two men in West Philadelphia in the fall of 2020.

But a jury acquitted him of those crimes, and he walked free in May 2023.

Three years later, Bowie, now 22, is back in jail — again accused of killing two people.

Police said Bowie and several others drove to 60th and Delancey Streets on the night of March 30, and opened fire on a group of people standing outside a corner bar, wounding three and killing Paul “PJ” Cobb and Naasir Boyd, both 24.

More than a dozen shots were fired from three different 9mm handguns, police said. In the hours after the shooting, police found the Mercedes on fire on the 1200 block of Cumberland Street.

Another man, Marquis Andrews, is also expected to be charged, police said. Andrews, 22, has been in custody since April after he was charged with illegally carrying a loaded gun, court records show.

Paul “PJ” Cobb, 24, was shot and killed near 60th and Delancey Streets on March 30. Cobb was the eldest son in his large, blended family, and was born and raised in West Philly.Courtesy of the Cobb family

The deaths of Cobb and Boyd, childhood friends born and raised in the neighborhood, came amid what law enforcement officials described as an escalating feud between the crews “Northside” and “Southside” in West Philadelphia — groups that have warred across the Market Street corridor for more than a decade.

Cobb’s and Boyd’s killings not only devastated their families, but police said the shooting likely led to another. The week after they were killed, police said, four Southside affiliates seeking revenge opened fire on a Northside rival standing outside a corner store at 60th and Market Streets.

Instead, the bullets struck and killed 20-year-old Imani Ringgold, who was walking with a slice of pizza and talking to her grandmother on the phone — and who had nothing to do with the feud.

Photos of Imani Ringgold are laid out on the table at her grandmother’s home. Jessica Griffin / Staff Photographer

One detective, at a recent court hearing, testified that at least 30 people have been killed in connection with the groups’ conflicts since 2015 — a beef that has festered for so long that many people at the center don’t even know how it started.

Bowie’s cases

Prosecutors previously said the first two killings Bowie was charged with — and later acquitted of — were also tied to the Northside-Southside feud.

In that case, lifelong friends Jarell Jackson and Shahjahan McCaskill, both 26, were driving near 57th Street and Locust Avenue when three gunmen jumped out of a black SUV and fired more than two dozen bullets into their car, killing them, in October 2020.

Jarrell Jackson, left, and Shahjahan McCaskill were killed in a case of mistaken identity in West Philadelphia in October 2020.Family photos

Investigators at the time said they believed the gunmen were Northside members who shot up the car in a botched retaliation for an earlier homicide.

Chesley Lightsey, then-homicide chief at the district attorney’s office, said Jackson, a Jefferson Health technician who mentored troubled teens, and McCaskill, who was a cancer survivor and small-business owner, had nothing to do with that conflict. The men, she said, “were targeted because of the neighborhood they live in.”

In West Philly, best friends were shot over an Instagram feud they had nothing to do with

Bowie was among three teens charged. But at the May 2023 trial, jurors acquitted him and his co-defendants. (Bowie was convicted of illegal gun possession in the case, and sentenced to 11½ to 23 months in jail, allowing his immediate parole, court records show.)

Marisa Palmer, a spokesperson for the district attorney’s office, said in an emailed statement that at Bowie’s trial, prosecutors presented witness testimony, and social media, video, and firearm-related evidence that prosecutors “believed established the defendants’ guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.”

The office respects the jury’s decision, she said. She called the new allegations against Bowie “deeply concerning,” and declined to comment further.

Bowie was taken into custody last week and charged with two counts of murder, as well as three counts of attempted murder, arson, and related crimes.

Police and homicide detectives investigate a double homicide at 60th and Delancey Streets on March 30. Jessica Griffin / Staff Photographer

Investigators tied Bowie to the crime after his cell phone location data placed him near the scene of the shooting, according to the affidavit of probable cause for his arrest. Andrews’ cell data also links him to the crime, the affidavit says, and call detail records and text messages show the two men were in communication in the hours after the killings.

The records say that police also recovered the murder weapon linked to Bowie. During an April 30 car stop in Kensington, the records say, police encountered Bowie and another man, and officers recovered a 9mm handgun that a ballistics test showed was used in the killings of Boyd and Cobb.

Court records did not list an attorney for Bowie.

Families in mourning

Boyd and Cobb have deep ties to the neighborhood, and were killed just blocks from where they lived.

Cobb’s mother said in an interview that her son was raised in a house at 60th and Delancey, and that she had countless memories of him playing and riding bikes on the block where he was killed. He was the eldest son of a large, blended family.

Cobb’s mother and sisters, who asked not to be identified for fear of retaliation, said he was goofy and protective, loyal and independent. He attended Sayre High School, before earning his GED, they said, and worked in construction with his father.

Paul “PJ” Cobb, 24, loved helping take care of a collection of nieces and nephews. Courtesy of the Cobb family

But his favorite role, they said, was being an uncle to his many nieces and nephews. He picked several of them up from school and daycare each day, and cared for them as if they were his own until his sisters finished work.

The sisters said they now tell their kids their favorite “Uncle P” is “in the sky.”

One older sister said that on a recent flight, her 3-year-old kept staring out the airplane window, looking for him in the clouds.

“She asked ‘Mom, where’s Uncle P at?’” she said. “And I had to tell her, ‘He’s further in the sky than we are on the plane.’”

His death, they said, has fractured their lives and ability to feel safe in their neighborhood.

Cobb’s mother said the conflicts of Northside and Southside have always loomed. Her son was not affiliated with Southside, she said, but having grown up on blocks at the center of the group’s feuds, he was cautious about his whereabouts, and she often worried about him.

When she first heard police made an arrest, she said, she was relieved. But learning that Bowie had been charged and acquitted before left her uneasy.

“There are things that happened,” she said, “that could have prevented this.”

June 12, 2026
A St. Joe’s Prep grad is recovering from a traumatic brain injury after violent high school ‘tiki party’ in Wissahickon park

As graduating seniors at St. Joseph’s Preparatory School prepared for college, summer jobs, and other hallmarks of young adulthood this spring, 17-year-old Shawn Rinnier was focused on a simpler goal.

He hoped to muster the physical strength to walk across the graduation stage to collect his diploma.

That’s because the Bryn Mawr teenager is recovering from a traumatic brain injury that his parents say he suffered during an assault at a late-night party in Wissahickon Valley Park last month.

The attack knocked him unconscious, they said, and he has since experienced poor memory, fatigue, delayed vision, balance issues, and numbness in the right side of his body.

Now, in addition to caring for their son during what they expect to be a lengthy recovery, the Rinniers are seeking accountability for the people who assaulted their son.

“Nobody will talk at this point, and it just seems like people are trying to protect themselves, protect their friends,” said his mother, Susan Rinnier. “There’s some young adults that have a lot on the line here.”

Alongside investigators with the Philadelphia Police Department, Rinnier’s parents are working to piece together the events of the May 10 “tiki party” in the woods near Chestnut Hill, where they say about 250 teenagers had gathered before the evening turned physical.

Rinnier’s brain injury has left him with little recollection of what happened, said his father, Shawn Rinnier Sr., leaving his parents to look for clues after being sent photos and videos of the assault that partygoers took on their cell phones.

That night, students from a nearby Philadelphia private school as well as those from schools in the suburbs gathered for the party, which had been promoted on social media, Shawn Rinnier Sr. said.

He did not name the schools, deferring comment on those details to investigators.

The videos, Susan Rinnier said, show young people growing increasingly aggressive and eventually fighting.

“A couple fights broke out where the video evidence is showing that the other students were the aggressors” in the assault of her son, Susan Rinnier said.

“Some kids are on the sidelines yelling and chanting ‘punch on him’ and riling things up,” she said. “Our son, kind of scared, turns around and starts walking out of the event. The group follows him for about a second or so. That’s all we can see.”

A woman driving home in Chestnut Hill that night discovered Rinnier lying in the street around midnight and called 911, his father said. Shawn Rinnier Sr. later spoke to the woman, who told him “hundreds” of people had been fleeing through the woods with flashlights.

The parents did not recognize the young people involved in the assault, and they continue to communicate with detectives who told them they are interviewing people who may be involved.

A spokesperson for the police department did not return requests for comment on the investigation.

Rinnier was rushed to Jefferson Einstein Philadelphia Hospital and put on a ventilator, his parents said, and doctors later determined that his traumatic brain injury was moderate to severe.

“When he finally awoke, he was suffering from poor memory, couldn’t follow instructions, was confused, acting impulsive,” his mother said. The teen then moved to a rehabilitation unit at Bryn Mawr Hospital, where he continues to recover, she said.

The violent events of that spring night were life-altering, Rinnier’s parents said.

Their son, a tennis player, was preparing to attend the University of Florida on a scholarship this fall, they said. Those plans are now on hold.

Instead, the teen is taking part in an extensive outpatient rehab program, and his parents are working to have his enrollment deferred to 2027, when they hope he will be well enough to attend school.

Making sure that Rinnier took part in graduation at St. Joe’s last month was a more readily attainable goal, his parents said, and they were determined that he would achieve it.

Susan Rinnier was pleased to see that he was able to walk across the stage on May 31, even if he soon grew fatigued and experienced numbness in his legs after the ceremony, she said.

The Rinniers’ next hope is that police will find and charge their son’s attackers. Meanwhile, they continue to scan social media for additional photos and videos that may offer a better view of the incident.

“We owe it to Shawn to continue to move this forward any possible way we can, to get to the bottom of this,” his father said. “That’s our job as parents, and we’re not gonna stop.”

June 12, 2026
Two Philadelphia police officers stopped hundreds of Black men on the street. Lawyers say the stops were illegal and racially biased.
Prosecutors have dismissed at least 24 firearms cases after defense lawyers challenged the legality of stops conducted by two Philadelphia police officers who they say systematically targeted Black men for unlawful searches.

Lawyers with the Defender Association of Philadelphia say former partners August Gershwin and John Lee initiated hundreds of pedestrian investigations in Northwest Philadelphia without sufficient legal justification — ordering Black men to submit to searches during interactions that were supposed to be voluntary, delaying activation of body-worn cameras until after stops were underway, and rarely documenting investigations unless they yielded illegal guns or contraband.

The allegations come more than a decade after Philadelphia entered into a federal consent decree aimed at curbing unconstitutional stop-and-frisk practices. The agreement requires officers to document investigative stops for review by independent monitors and encourages police to handle low-level violations through so-called mere encounters — voluntary interactions with officers in which people are free to ignore questions and walk away.

The lawyers contend that Gershwin and Lee exploited that distinction, routinely detaining people without the legal justification required for a stop while avoiding the scrutiny those interactions would otherwise receive.

Their review, detailed in recent court filings, has prompted prosecutors to abandon dozens of cases tied to the officers, while the fate of dozens more remains uncertain.

The dismissals began with the case of Namir Mack, charged with firearms offenses and evading arrest after a March 2025 stop by Gershwin and Lee led to the recovery of an illegal handgun.

According to court filings, the officers stopped Mack as he walked along West Erie Avenue. Body-worn camera footage showed Mack lifting the back of his sweatshirt after the officers ordered him to expose his waist.

Mack then ran. During a brief chase, he was struck by an SUV on Hunting Park Avenue, and officers recovered a handgun. A supervisor’s body-worn camera footage captured the aftermath.

“What is this?” Sgt. Christopher Bloom asked. “A mere encounter turned into a foot pursuit?”

Defender Association lawyers characterized the pattern of conduct discovered in their review as deeply concerning.

The officers’ actions were “flying in the face of everything that’s supposed to be happening with this march toward more equitable policing in Philadelphia,” said Michael Mellon, who, along with Paula Sen, leads the association’s police accountability unit and conducted the review.

Efforts to reach Lee, who left the department last November, were unsuccessful. Gershwin directed inquiries to his supervisor, who declined to comment.

The police department declined to comment on the dismissed cases and the Defender Association’s findings.

Police Commissioner Kevin J. Bethel declined an interview request, and police union leaders did not respond to requests for comment.

The district attorney’s office, too, declined to comment.

Police spokesperson Sgt. Eric Gripp said that pedestrian stops must be based on something more than a “hunch,” and that “the mere presence of a firearm” or “a person being in a particular area does not, standing alone, automatically justify a detention or frisk.”

Department policy also requires officers to activate body-worn cameras at the outset of investigative stops. But the lawyers found that in every reviewed stop for which footage was available, the officers activated their cameras only after the interaction had begun, obscuring the moments most critical to determining whether the stop was lawful and whether citizens had voluntarily complied with police requests.

Paula Sen and Mike Mellon, who lead the police accountability unit of the Defender Association of Philadelphia, at their offices.Alejandro A. Alvarez / Staff Photographer

According to the lawyers’ legal filings, the department sustained at least three investigations for body-worn camera violations against both Gershwin and Lee during the two-year period reviewed by attorneys.

Of the nearly 500 pedestrian interactions reviewed by Mellon and Sen, only 130 were documented as investigative stops. The officers recorded an additional 320 as mere encounters.

After reviewing body-worn camera footage, police paperwork, and other materials, the lawyers concluded that 277 of the interactions described as mere encounters should have been classified as investigative stops and subjected to consent-decree review. Of those, 218 involved weapons license investigations. None resulted in the recovery of an illegal firearm.

The lawyers also found that all but one of the nearly 500 people the officers stopped during the review period were Black. All but two were men.
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In one encounter classified as voluntary, body-worn camera footage showed Gershwin asking to search a man’s bag outside a beer deli. When a woman in the group objected, Gershwin searched the bag anyway before walking away, having found nothing.

In another supposedly voluntary encounter, Gershwin warned two teenage boys that if they did not lift their shirts, “we’re gonna cuff you.” Neither teen was found to have a weapon.

“They know they don’t have reasonable suspicion,” Sen said, “so they’re simply not documenting them.”

Gripp said the department’s internal affairs bureau conducted six investigations involving Gershwin and four involving Lee related to pedestrian stops and searches. Two allegations against Gershwin were sustained, he said, and none of the cases against Lee was sustained.

David Rudovsky, a civil rights lawyer who helped secure the consent decree, said he is “concerned that at least some officers in the department are doing an end run around the consent decree.”

Rudovsky said he plans to press the department to investigate Gershwin, Lee, and other officers who appear in body-worn camera footage reviewed by defense attorneys.

“If we’re not satisfied,” he said, “ultimately we can seek relief from the court.”

The Citizens Police Oversight Commission also said it plans to analyze department data on mere encounters and conduct audits as a result of the Defender Association’s findings and complaints from residents.

While most active cases handled by the Defender Association have been dismissed, Mellon and Sen estimate that an additional 30 to 40 cases involve private defense attorneys. They said they next plan to press the district attorney’s office to review closed cases tied to the officers’ arrests and broaden their analysis to other officers.
June 12, 2026
‘This is senseless’: Slain Penn State student mourned as police work to identify killers

Family and friends gathered in South Philadelphia Thursday night to mourn William Schmidt, a Penn State student they all knew simply as “Billy.”

Spanning three blocks, loved ones and neighbors sang songs and held back tears on the corner of 20th and Durfor Streets, where a memorial to Schmidt near a fire hydrant where he was shot and killed was covered by candles, flowers, and balloons.

“He was my son, my best friend,” William Schmidt, Billy’s father, said, holding back tears. “How am I supposed to watch the Eagles play without him now? I am heartbroken without him.”

Father Kelly speaks at a vigil in memory of South Philly shooting victim Billy Schmidt Thursday, June 11, 2026, in South Philadelphia.Elizabeth Robertson / Staff Photographer

Trying to find comfort in the outpouring of love surrounding his son’s memorial, Schmidt said the crowd was a testament to Billy’s life and how good a person he was. But it’s not enough to outweigh a father’s pain.

“I’m thrilled he had such a great group of friends. He was a very candid person who never bothered anyone,” Schmidt said. “But I don’t have my son.”

One of those friends, Gino Russo, can’t even remember life without Billy, whom he’d known since kindergarten.

“Every time you call him, he was there,” Russo said. “Billy never let anyone down. I never saw him walk into a room not smiling and making sure everyone is smiling around him.”

Anna, Billy’s sister, called him “my best friend + best brother in one” in a message on a poster featuring lots of memories and a heart made with pictures of the siblings.

“Being your sister is the biggest honor,” she wrote. “Spending every Eagles game with you was so much fun, and you will always be watching the games with me now.”

A ‘senseless’ killing

Schmidt, 22, was shot and killed just footsteps from his home on South 20th Street early Saturday morning in an apparent robbery attempt. According to his father, Schmidt was returning home after watching the NBA Finals at a nearby bar with friends.

Video captured on a home surveillance camera obtained and broadcast by 6abc shows a man wearing a hoodie throwing a cell phone down Durfor Street. Schmidt appeared to be chasing him and another man, who shot the Penn State student in the chest as he turned the corner.

Schmidt was pronounced dead at Penn Presbyterian Medical Center a short time later.

“This is senseless,” Councilmember Kenyatta Johnson told the crowd standing beside Schmidt’s father and sister, who held each other tightly.

William Schmidt was studying digital journalism and media at Penn State’s online campus.Elizabeth Robertson / Staff Photographer

Schmidt was a fourth-semester student studying digital journalism and media at the Penn State World Campus, the university’s online campus. Schmidt’s father told 6abc he was shocked his son chased the two men to retrieve his phone, which was found under a car on Durfor Street and turned over to police.

Philadelphia police are still trying to identify the two suspects, who were also captured in security footage both approaching the scene and fleeing the area following the shooting.

One suspect was wearing a light gray custom designed “KONFUSED” brand hooded sweatshirt. The other was wearing dark clothing and a light gray camouflage face mask, which he removed following the shooting.

Anyone with information is asked to call the homicide unit at 215-686-3334, or submit an anonymous tip by calling or texting 215-686-TIPS (8477). The city offers a $20,000 reward for information that leads to an arrest and conviction.

June 12, 2026