A former Philadelphia probation officer and a former city police officer have been charged with illegally connecting bettors to an overseas sports gambling website that allowed them to place hundreds of thousands of dollars in bets over nearly a decade, according to federal authorities.
Joseph Moore and James P. DeAngelo Jr. each face one count of conducting an illegal gambling business, court records show. Moore, the former probation officer, pleaded guilty in federal court Monday.
DeAngelo, the former police officer, is scheduled to appear in court later this week and has been charged by information, which typically indicates that a defendant intends to plead guilty.
Prosecutors said in charging documents that Moore ran the scheme from 2017 to 2025 — operating “block pools” based on NFL or NCAA basketball games, or helping bettors place ordinary wagers on different sporting events. He would sometimes send mass emails to hundreds of bettors advertising pools he was running, the documents said, with entry fees of a few hundred dollars and payouts in the thousands for winners.
Moore often collected 10% of the winners’ earnings as a “tip,” prosecutors said, and he sometimes allowed bettors to place wagers on credit even if they had incurred multiple losses.
He conducted some of his business from his probation office, the documents said, and saved records from the operation on his work computer. At one point, prosecutors said, he recruited another probation officer to help collect and transfer money from bettors using peer-to-peer apps such as Venmo and Cash App.
DeAngelo, meanwhile, helped maintain the operation’s access to the overseas gambling site, prosecutors said, and he sometimes accepted wagers from individual bettors.
Prosecutors did not specify whether the investigation led either man to lose his job. But in charging documents, prosecutors said Moore ran the operation until February 2025, and Martin O’Rourke, a spokesperson for the First Judicial District, said Monday that Moore resigned from the probation department that month.
A police spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment Monday, and DeAngelo did not have an attorney listed in court records.
The case was unsealed Monday, just days after federal prosecutors in New York unveiled two sweeping indictments charging several NBA figures with participating in illegal gambling schemes, one of which involved a player allegedly providing inside information to bettors about specific games.
The fallout from that scandal has come quickly, with some commentators questioning whether sports leagues have grown too close to the betting industry, and Congress requesting a briefing from the NBA’s commissioner, Adam Silver.
A Wilmington man brought his mother’s gun to Lincoln University’s campus Saturday, prosecutors said, and was still holding the loaded weapon when a deadly shooting tore through the school’s homecoming celebration.
Zecqueous Morgan-Thompson, 21, has not been charged in connection with the shooting, only with possessing the weapon without a concealed-carry permit. But investigators said they were still working Monday to determine whether his firearm was used in the incident at the historically Black university, which left one person dead and six others wounded.
Morgan-Thompson remained in custody Monday in lieu of $25,000 bail.
Chester County District Attorney Chris de Barrena-Sarobe said his office is trying to determine if more than one shooter was involved. Morgan-Thompson was arrested on the campus in the aftermath of the gunfire, holding a loaded Glock 28 .380-caliber handgun, according to the affidavit of probable cause for his arrest.
The shots rang out about 9:30 p.m. Saturday on the campus in Lower Oxford Township. De Barrena-Sarobe has said he does not believe the shooting was a coordinated attack targeting the school, but instead took place as the crowd swelled on the campus.
The motive for the shooting remained under investigation.
Gunfire rang out just before 9:30 p.m. Oct. 25 at Lincoln University in the parking lot of the International Cultural Center in Lower Oxford Township in Chester County, Pennsylvania. The university is about 15 miles from Hockessin.
Jujuan Jeffers, 20, of Wilmington, died after being shot in the head. It was unclear if Jeffers had any affiliation with Lincoln — investigators have said the victims included one alumnus and one current student.
Jeffers’ brother declined to speak with a reporter when contacted Monday.
The student who was hurt was recovering well, but obviously shaken, according to Chester County Commissioner Josh Maxwell, who is an adjunct professor at the school. Her injuries, he said, were not life-threatening.
Lincoln University canceled classes Monday in light of the shooting.
“Gun violence happens far too often in our country, and we are heartbroken that Lincoln University and its students are among the latest victims of such senseless violence,” the school said in a statement.
The rural campus was quiet Monday afternoon as students gathered for a vigil that gave members of the university community a chance to grieve and heal.
The service was not open to the media, and gates at various entrances to Lincoln’s campus were locked.
Geslande Sanne, a Lincoln University junior from Oregon, was in her dorm Monday morning, still coming to terms with the chaotic scene she experienced Saturday night.
“A lot of us on campus are processing it in our own different ways,” said Sanne, a political science and French major. “We are all reaching out to each other. Our professors are talking to each other and to us. Some students went home to be with their families. Some people are just resting.”
She said she intended to attend the university’s community healing session on campus at noon and later go to the hospital to visit her friend, who was the only Lincoln student shot during the incident.
Sanne recalled that she and a group of friends were on the outskirts of the crowd when they heard gunshots.
“Everybody started running and we started running, too,” she said. “We were confused. Did something really happen? After a few minutes, the music stopped, and we knew something really happened.”
She and her friends made a plan to get back to their dorms so they would be safe, but then decided to seek shelter inside the International Cultural Center building, not far from where the shooting took place.
After people started banging on the windows, she said, Sanne and her friends left there and walked carefully back to their dorms.
It all happened in about 20 minutes, she estimated.
Sanne said she chose to attend Lincoln because she wanted to go to an HBCU and was impressed by all its prominent graduates. She said she has received much encouragement and many opportunities at the school.
“It’s really inspired me,” she said, “that I can be a part of something positive despite everything going on in the country.”
She said she has always felt safe on Lincoln’s rural campus, safer than she does anywhere else. And Saturday night’s shooting hasn’t changed that.
“It wasn’t Lincoln’s fault,” said Sanne, who wants to be an international lawyer. “We do the best we can with the resources we have. It shouldn’t be an excuse to leave or disinvest in Lincoln. It’s a reason to pour in more resources and support these schools even more.”
Staff writer Jesse Bunch contributed to this article.
A 25-year-old man from Wilmington was killed and six others — including a student and an alum — were injured in a shooting Saturday night at Lincoln University, which was celebrating homecoming weekend, according to the Chester County District Attorney’s Office.
The man killed was Jujuan Jeffers, 25, of Wilmington, District Attorney Christopher de Barrena-Sarobe said.
The other six shooting victims, all age 20 to 25, are expected to survive, de Barrena-Sarobe said at a news conference on campus early Sunday evening.
Zecqueous Morgan-Thompson, 21, of Wilmington, was charged with carrying a concealed firearm without a license, de Barrena-Sarobe said. Authorities are investigating whether the gun found on Morgan-Thompson was used in the shooting, he said, but also said authorities suspect there were multiple shooters.
Morgan-Thompson was being held at Chester County prison after his bail was set at $25,000 bail Sunday evening, according to court records. It was not immediately clear if he had a lawyer.
“We don’t have a lot of answers about exactly what happened. What I will tell you is that today we’re operating as if this is not an incident where someone came in with the design to inflict mass damage on a college campus,” de Barrena-Sarobe told reporters during a news conference earlier on Sunday.
He urged anyone with video from the scene or other information that could help the investigation to contact the FBI, and he repeated that request at the evening news conference. Lincoln which enrolls about 1,650 students, is the first degree-granting historically Black university in the nation.
The shooting occurred at the university’s International Cultural Center building about 9:30 p.m. Saturday, leading to a chaotic scene.
“It was a very packed scene,” said Dana Moore, a spokesperson for the district attorney’s office. “The festivities had gone on. … It was all fun, football game, tailgate, a lot people had set up tents. And then chaos ensued.”
Authorities discuss shooting at Lincoln University that left one dead, six injured.
Moore declined to say where the injured were being treated or release their identities.
“We are protecting all identities and locations at this time,” she said.
The district attorney did not release other information about the injured at the evening press conference but said one victim was a student and one was an alumnus. The rest, he said, do not have direct affiliation with the university.
“Everyone on campus is a victim in this,” he said, emphasizing the importance of healing.
Josh Maxwell, chair of the Chester County Commissioners and an adjunct professor at Lincoln, said he knew the student who was shot and had spoken with her Sunday.
“She said she’s had better days but she’ll be fine,” he said, noting that he planned to visit her on Monday. “She’s a phenomenal student, just an extraordinarily focused, really good kid who is hitting all the marks to have a really good life. And I expect that’s not going to be interrupted.”
Maxwell said students choose Lincoln to get a good education.
“There’s no downtown to walk to or bars, just the quiet borough of Oxford and beautiful farmland,” he wrote in a Facebook post. “The fact that violence could reach them here, and personally one of my students, tears at my heart.”
The university announced in a statement Sunday afternoon that it would suspend classes Monday “for a day of healing and reflection,” though the school would remain open and staff and counseling would be available to help students and faculty.
The university has invited the campus community to gather at noon in the Historic District, between Vail and Amos Halls, for “a moment of reflection, connection, and collective healing.”
“Gun violence happens far too often in our country, and we are heartbroken that Lincoln University and its students are among the latest victims of such senseless violence,” the school said in the statement.
On campus Sunday, police tape draped a parking lot strewn with trash — showing a scene of homecoming revelry abruptly abandoned.
Investigators are on the scene outside Lincoln University’s International Cultural Center (ICC) Sunday, Oct. 26, 2025, where one person was killed and six other people were shot the night before during homecoming weekend celebrations.
Vanessa Ayllon, who lives across the street, said she saw the chaos on her Ring doorbell camera.
“All I see is people running and just getting into cars, just trying to leave,” Ayllon said. “It was very hectic.”
She said cars were traveling in the same direction in both lanes on the street, nearly causing a crash as people fled.
Terina Clark, 61, of West Philadelphia, graduated from Lincoln in 1987 and said she came to homecoming weekend to reconnect with old friends. They left shortly before the shooting, Clark said, frustrated by a crowded scene where she said alcohol flowed freely and people rolled joints and smoked marijuana not far from security officers.
“The crowds grew like you were going to a stadium game,” Clark said, adding she wanted to see school officials held responsible for allowing things to get out of control.
“Parents trust these kids within these walls,” Clark said. “The walls have to control what comes in.”
Delaware State University students Darius Lawson and Jake Ferguson, who attended the Saturday night homecoming, returned to Lincoln’s campus Sunday to try to retrieve a friend’s purse that was left behind in the woods as people fled the gunfire. The two were turned away by campus police who told them the purse was now part of a crime scene.
“Everyone just started running and falling,” said Lawson, 21. He said he saw people lying on the ground after the gunfire, as ambulances arrived.
Lawson called it a sad end to what had been a great party. He added that Saturday wasn’t the first time he attended a homecoming party marred by violence: Last year he attended celebrations at North Carolina Central University, where two shootings occurred.
The scene at Lincoln University’s International Cultural Center (ICC) building Sunday morning Oct. 26, 2025, where one person was killed and six other people were shot the night before during homecoming weekend celebrations.
University officials, including Henry Lancaster II, a 1976 graduate and member of the board of trustees, were mum on details about the shooting when reached Sunday.
Marc Partee, Lincoln University police chief, declined to answer any questions about the shooting or estimate how many people were on campus at the time. The incident happened about a half hour before festivities were due to end at 10 p.m., said Partee, who has worked at the school since 2019.
Gov. Josh Shapiro, who received an honorary degree from Lincoln in 2023, said the state had “offered its full support” to the university and local police.
“Join Lori and me in praying for the Lincoln University community,” he said on X late Saturday.
Lincoln, one of four so-called state-related colleges in Pennsylvania, is in rural Chester County, about 45 miles southwest of Philadelphia.
The university’s alumni association said in a Facebook post Sunday morning that it was sending “thoughts and prayers to Lincoln University, our students, and the victims of last night’s tragic and senseless act of violence during Homecoming.”
“Homecoming should be a time of joy and unity,” the Alumni Association of Lincoln University posted. “Today, we stand together in grief, in strength, and in unwavering support of our beloved alma mater.”
Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle L. Parker is a Lincoln alumna, and was on campus last week, posting to social media Saturday, “It was an honor to help kick off @LincolnUofPA‘s Homecoming earlier this week — celebrating 171 years of Black excellence and The Lincolnian’s 100th anniversary.”
Lincoln pride is in full effect this weekend!
It was an honor to help kick off @LincolnUofPA‘s Homecoming earlier this week — celebrating 171 years of Black excellence and The Lincolnian’s 100th anniversary.
Parker did not immediately reply to a request for comment Sunday.
She’s among several notable Lincoln alumni, a list which includes Thurgood Marshall, the first Black U.S. Supreme Court justice; Harlem Renaissance poet Langston Hughes; Robert N.C. Nix, Sr., the first Black lawmaker from Pennsylvania to serve in Congress; Sheila Oliver, former New Jersey lieutenant governor and the first Black woman to serve as speaker of the New Jersey general assembly; and Harry W. Bass, the first Black Pennsylvania state legislator.
The school has achieved some milestones in recent years. The university in 2020 received a $20 million donation from philanthropist MacKenzie Scott, which became the largest single gift in the school’s history.
President Brenda A. Allen at that time called the gift “transformational” for the then-2,100-student school and said it would fund new investments in teaching, research, and faculty development, as well as support need-based scholarships.
In 2021, Allen was named one of the 10 most dominant historically Black college leaders by a national nonprofit organization that advocates for the schools, and in May, Maryland Gov. Wes Moore delivered the commencement address at Lincoln.
But the university also has weathered controversy, including an internal battle over Allen’s leadership in 2020. The board attempted to oust her, but later decided to negotiate a new contract with her.
The school also has been the scene of prior shooting incidents.
In 2023, two people were shot inside a residential building on campus; the victims were not students but had been visiting the school. And in 2015, the campus tightened security after shots were fired in a dorm, though no one was hurt in the incident.
Staff writer Kristen A. Graham contributed to this article, which also contains information from the Associated Press.
The family of Kada Scott honored her life Sunday morning by releasing balloons on the steps of the Philadelphia Art Museum.
Organizers described the event as a vigil to honor the life and memory of Scott, the 23-year-old Mount Airy woman who police say was murdered earlier this month. Police found Scott’s body Oct. 18 after a two-week search, buried in the woods behind the vacant Ada H.H. Lewis Middle School.
Scott family members who attended Sunday’s vigil included her mother, Kim Matthews, who held a sign saying “RIP Kada” with her daughter’s photo on it, and her father, Kevin Scott.
Kim Matthews (center right), mother of Kada Scott, holds a sign featuring her daughter while releasing balloons before a Domestic Violence Awareness walk at the Philadelphia Art Museum on Sunday, Oct. 26, 2025.
The event was held immediately before a walk to increase awareness of domestic violence.
Philadelphia native and reality TV actress Sundy Carter, who authored a book on her own experiences with domestic violence, said she and other walk organizers were already planning an event when Scott was found dead.
“When the unfortunate situation happened with Kada, we knew that this was so much bigger than us,” Carter said.
Police have said they are still determining the relationship between Scott and her accused killer, Keon King. But Carter emphasized that violence can occur even when people know each other but are not in a relationship.
Carter said the event offered a chance for Scott’s family and friends to share their stories with others.
“We just loved on each other, encouraged one another, and we turned today into something so powerful and positive,” Carter said.
Walk participants carried that feeling forward, she said.
“There were so many other domestic violence foundations and support groups that were out there and just there to give resources and everybody was just very much hands-on,” Carter said. “I think this is what the city needed.”
Participants meet at the Philadelphia Art Museum before starting the Domestic Violence Awareness walk on Sunday, Oct. 26, 2025.
Carter said organizers plan to hold similar walks at least once a year.
King has been charged with murder, illegal gun possession, abuse of a corpse, robbery, and additional crimes. He was denied bail and will appear in court Nov. 3 for the first of three preliminary hearings.
A Lower Gwynedd man has been charged with the attempted murder of a law enforcement officer after authorities say he struck a Plymouth Township police officer with his car multiple times before fleeing the scene.
Dalton Lee Janiczek, 21, faces multiple felony charges, including attempted murder of a law enforcement officer, aggravated assault, and fleeing or attempting to elude a police officer.
Around 10:19 a.m. on Friday, Janiczek fled in a white Mercedes-Benz G-Wagon from an attempted traffic stop by Springfield Township police officers, according to police. The officers did not pursue but instead broadcast information about the incident to neighboring police departments.
Around noon, Sgt. Jon Bleuit of the Whitpain Township Police Department was out on patrol when he heard a radio transmission about the attempted stop, police said.
Earlier that day, Bleuit had received information that Janiczek had been involved in an incident in Chester County where he “threatened to blow up a police department,” police said. Bleuit and the Whitpain Township Police Department were “familiar with Janiczek” and his SUV, according to police. There was no warrant out for Janiczek’s arrest at the time.
Several minutes after Bleuit heard the radio transmission, he saw Janiczek driving and attempted to stop him for a traffic violation, police said. Janiczek allegedly drove over a center concrete median barrier and drove off again. Bleuit did not attempt to follow Janiczek and also relayed the information to neighboring departments.
At 12:39 p.m., a Plymouth Township police officer, whom police did not identify, responded to the Doubletree Hotel in the township, where he saw the Mercedes G-Wagon driven by Janiczek, police said.
The officer turned on his emergency lights. Within seconds, police said, Janiczek reversed his SUV, hitting the police officer’s car several times. The officer got out of his car, drew his firearm, and started yelling at Janiczek to stop the car and show his hands.
In response, Janiczek allegedly accelerated directly at the officer, trying to strike him. The officer discharged his firearm at least five times toward the front windshield of Janiczek’s car, police said. Janiczek struck the officer, causing him to fall to the ground and start bleeding out of his leg, police said. Janiczek then drove away briefly before allegedly striking the officer three more times as the officer lay on his back attempting to apply a tourniquet.
The officer was airlifted to a hospital in Philadelphia with severe leg injuries. As of Saturday afternoon, he was in intensive care and would require multiple surgeries for his injuries, police said.
The incident was captured by bodycam footage and video taken by a bystander at the hotel, police said.
After leaving the Doubletree lot, officials say, Janiczek fled the area and began traveling southbound on Walton Road. A Plymouth Township police car with its emergency lights on approached northbound on Walton Road. Janiczek allegedly crossed the double yellow line, striking the police car and causing it to strike another police car. Janiczek continued to travel southbound in the northbound lane, where he struck a stopped Plymouth police car head-on, injuring a Plymouth Township police sergeant.
The sergeant, who was not identified, was taken to a local hospital for injuries to his legs. Both injured officers are in stable condition, according to a news release from the Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office.
Janiczek was taken into custody after striking the sergeant’s car. According to police, Plymouth Township Officer Mike Watts said he heard Janiczek say, “Put me in the car or I will kill you,” as officers took him into custody. Janiczek was treated at Jefferson Abington Hospital for injuries, including a graze wound to his head.
Janiczek was arraigned on Saturday by Judge Thomas P. Murt, who denied bail. A preliminary hearing before Judge Jodi L. Griffis is scheduled for Nov. 4.
Before Friday’s incident, Janiczek had been charged with driving violations multiple times in both Pennsylvania and Arizona, including careless driving, driving without a license, and driving an unregistered vehicle. Authorities say Janiczek had been involved in several traffic incidents within the last week where he had fled from police.
Two Plymouth Township police officers were hospitalized in stable condition Friday afternoon after a driver allegedly injured them intentionally with a vehicle in the parking lot of a DoubleTree Suites near the Plymouth Meeting Mall, Montgomery County officials said.
Around 12:40 p.m., Plymouth Township police received a report of a person driving erratically in the area of Hickory and Narcissa Roads, and a few minutes later, an officer found the suspect driving in the parking lot of the hotel, Thomas Nolan, deputy chief of the Montgomery County Detective Bureau, told 6abc and other news outlets at the scene.
The suspect backed into the police vehicle, and then struck the officer after he had exited his vehicle, Nolan said. The officer fired his weapon at the suspect, who drove away.
The injured officer was applying a tourniquet to an injury when the driver returned and struck the officer again several times, Nolan said.
As more police responded to the scene, the suspect struck another police vehicle, injuring a second officer before finally being taken into custody, Nolan said.
The suspect was treated and released from a hospital and was being held at the Montgomery County Correctional Facility, a spokesperson for the District Attorney’s Office said Friday night.
FBI Director Kash Patel visited Philadelphia Friday to announce the results of a large-scale investigation into a Kensington-based drug gang — the latest demonstration of how President Donald Trump’s administration is seeking to highlight what it’s called a nationwide crackdown against suspected drug dealers.
The target of the investigation — which spanned several years — was a gang that had long run a 24-hour open-air drug market on the 3100 block of Weymouth Street, according to court documents. The group was sophisticated, the documents said, with dozens of members working specific schedules, performing specific roles — such as block owner, street dealer, or lookout — and seeking to control territory with the threat of violence.
Members dealt drugs including fentanyl, heroin, cocaine, and crack, the documents said, and oversaw “one of the most prolific drug blocks in the city.” They also controlled parts of other nearby streets in a neighborhood where single corners have historically been able to generate tens of millions of dollars per year in drug sales.
Prosecutors indicted 33 people in all, court records show, including Jose Antonio Morales Nieves and Ramon Roman-Montanez, whom they described as two of the group’s leaders. Most defendants were charged with conspiracy to distribute controlled substances or other drug-related crimes.
Moralez Nieves “owned” the 3100 block of Weymouth, prosecutors said, and let dealers sell there by paying him “rent.” Roman-Montanez, meanwhile, organized street-level operations — developing schedules, doling out roles, and managing profits.
U.S. Attorney David Metcalf said the investigation into the Weymouth Street group would effectively eliminate it.
U.S. Attorney David Metcalf said more defendants were indicted in this case than any other federal prosecution in the Philadelphia region in a quarter-century.
And although prosecutors did not estimate how much money the group made during its decade-long run on the block — and none of its members were officially charged with committing acts of violence — Metcalf said the arrests nonetheless “annihilated” a gang that had terrorized a long-suffering part of Kensington.
Patel said the effort was emblematic of how law enforcement — both local and federal — can work together to address chronic issues including drug dealing and gun violence.
“Everyone in America should be looking at this takedown,” Patel said “This takedown is how you safeguard American cities from coast to coast.”
Law enforcement and FBI at Weymouth Street between Clearfield and Allegheny Avenue on Friday, October 24, 2025.
FBI agents and Philadelphia police officers conducted a series of raids in Kensington early Friday morning in support of the initiative. Wayne Jacobs, the FBI’s top official in Philadelphia, said agents served 11 search warrants, and that 30 of the 33 defendants were in custody as of Friday afternoon.
Philadelphia Police Commissioner Kevin Bethel said he was proud that the arrests might help bring “safety, dignity and peace” to Kensington — a neighborhood that Mayor Cherelle L. Parker’s administration has sought to prioritize throughout her two years in office, nearly tripling the police force in the neighborhood.
While officials acknowledged that the investigation began several years ago, the results nonetheless came as Trump and some of his top cabinet officials — including Patel, Attorney General Pam Bondi, and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth — have sought in recent weeks to promote what they’ve cast as a concerted effort to address crime across the country, particularly involving suspected drug traffickers.
Some of the Trump administration’s initiatives have been relatively conventional, such as Friday’s raids in Philadelphia and other recent takedowns in cities such as Milwaukee and Pittsburgh.
Trump and Patel have also touted the FBI’s arrest numbers this year, saying they are “working non-stop to make America safe again.”
Dan Bongino, one of Patel’s top deputies at the FBI, said Friday that the Philadelphia arrests were part of that mission, writing on social media: “When President Trump told us to ‘go get em,’ he wasn’t kidding. And neither were we.”
FBI agents were on the 700 block of East Clearfield near Weymouth Street on Friday morning.
Still, other aspects of the campaign have been highly controversial, including Trump seeking to deploy federal troops to cities such as Chicago and Portland in response to what he’s called widespread unrest or clashes between protesters and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. Local officials have described Trump’s efforts as unnecessary and challenged them in court.
Trump also moved to effectively federalize law enforcement in Washington, D.C., an effort that local officials called a “baseless power grab” in a lawsuit.
And international tensions have started to rise over the military’s continued bombing of alleged drug-carrying boats in the Caribbean Sea and Pacific Ocean — strikes that have killed dozens of people and raised questions about whether the tactic is legal.
Around Weymouth Street on Friday, SWAT units had dispersed by noon. Residents by then had gathered in the street along the narrow block, where some rowhouse doors were left ajar and several neighbors peered curiously from upper windows.
Victor Ramirez, who has lived near Weymouth Street for 20 years, said police activity has become more common in the area in recent months.
“It’s a different story almost every day,” Ramirez said outside his home.
Ramirez said increased law enforcement activity has frightened his neighbors. He said most are “good people” who work to feed their families. Still, Ramirez said he feels more safe with the increased attention to crime in the neighborhood.
The FBI raid Friday morning felt like a significant escalation, he said. Ramirez was surprised to see agents armed with assault rifles hopping out of armored cars and making arrests.
The raid came on the day of a fall block party on Allegheny Avenue, which stretched between F and G Streets and intersected with neighboring Weymouth Street. The event is popular with local children, Ramirez said, and he hoped it would bring positive energy to a block that experienced an unusual morning.
For five glorious Sundays this summer, there was peace in Chester.
In places like the William Penn Homes and Chester Apartments, where children are often encouraged to stay indoors, shut away from the threat of gang violence, it was finally safe to play outside during the height of what is normally the most dangerous time of the year.
Roving carnivals nicknamed “Sunday Fun Days” were organized and held in Delaware County’s lone city, in areas that had weathered a surge in violence in recent years. A few bounce houses, some water ice, and communities breathing sighs of relief were rewards for keeping the peace, and motivation to continue that trend.
The parties, according to Geo Stockman, the lead gun violence interventionist with Making a Change Group, came during one of the safest summers on record in the city: Not a single fatal gunshot was fired in Chester during that time.
It was a result that local police and county prosecutors say they have been working toward these last few years, through a combination of advocacy work and interventions by groups like Stockman’s.
“This opened up the neighborhoods. It gave them a reason to say, ‘Let’s try something else, people are really looking out for us now, maybe we should put this down,’” Stockman said. “People are always telling people to stop doing something without offering them something in this place. So that’s what we did this summer. We offered them something in its place.”
Gregory Cottman left, Gregory Graves, center, and Geo Stockman say the Sunday Fun Day block parties sponsored by the Delaware County District Attorney’s Office served as both a reward for neighborhoods that have curbed gun violence, and an incentive to continue that trend in the years to come.
In its five years of operation, CPSN has seen a 65% reduction in shootings overall and a 74% reduction in fatal shootings. And since the summer, only two fatal shootings have been recorded in Chester, which prosecutors say still puts the city on pace for one of its most peaceful years on record.
“Violence comes from a place of, of hopelessness, of despair. Just anger, resentment, and feeling like you’ve been left behind, like nobody cares,” Stockman said.
window.addEventListener(“message”,function(a){if(void 0!==a.data[“datawrapper-height”]){var e=document.querySelectorAll(“iframe”);for(var t in a.data[“datawrapper-height”])for(var r,i=0;r=e[i];i++)if(r.contentWindow===a.source){var d=a.data[“datawrapper-height”][t]+”px”;r.style.height=d}}});
He spoke from experience, as a lifelong Chester resident who spent time in prison for mistakes made on the streets of his hometown.
“That’s what makes what we do so effective. Most of us want to be stopped, but nobody stops us,” he said. “Nobody takes the time to say, ‘I’m gonna be the one to calm you down.’ It really only takes somebody with a clear mind that they understand to say, ‘Nah, that ain’t it.’”
Stockman said he and his team have successfully mediated 130 disputes between rival neighborhoods in the last two years. They settled petty arguments, usually started on social media, that were clearly heading toward a violent conclusion.
“This is a small community, so your reputation goes further than just the neighborhood you’re from,” said Gregory “G-Code” Graves, who works with Stockman.
Graves said the anti-violence messaging works because it’s coming from people the intended audience can identify with.
“We’ve been through the vetting process in all these neighborhoods, so even if it’s a little hesitation at first, it doesn’t take a great deal of persuasion to get them to come to us,” Graves said. “And we come in with meaningful things that’s going to help the situation.”
Residents of the Chester Apartments line up for water ice at a “Sunday Fun Day” block party held this summer in Chester.
For District Attorney Jack Stollsteimer, those results are exactly what he envisioned when he brought CPSN to the county five years ago, building it on models used successfully in other cities, including Boston.
And he is confident that the program will continue to thrive without him, as he runs for a county judgeship in the Nov. 4 election.
“People have bought into the strategy. They’ve seen it work now, and they just wanna keep it going,” he said.
Stollsteimer said making Chester safe was one of his priorities when running for district attorney in 2019. Similar programs, he said, had failed before because of a lack of buy-in from officials.
This time was different — Mayor Stefan Roots became a fixture at the Sunday Fun Day parties.
Roots said the weekly parties presented a rare opportunity for residents to meet the people making decisions that affect their everyday lives. And, in turn, allowed him and other officials to have open, honest dialogue with people living in communities most affected by gun violence.
The conversation flowed naturally, he said. No pressure. No pretense.
“This is something that’s never, never happened before,” he said. “The relationship between the city and the county is really welcome. And the results are showing themselves.”
Roots said he lost count of how many residents came up to him at the parties to talk about their own efforts to curb violence in their neighborhoods. People, he said, who told him that the block parties, and the gun violence interventions that preceded them, were a welcome sigh of relief.
“They told me that, sometimes, they don’t want to be ‘the man with the cape.’ They want to go on and have a life, too,” Roots said.
A police sergeant in New Jersey has been accused of failing to properly respond to a reported shooting that led to the deaths of a veterinarian and her volunteer firefighter boyfriend, both allegedly killed by a New Jersey State Police trooper, prosecutors announced Thursday.
Lauren Semanchik, 33, of Pittstown, and Tyler Webb, 29, of Forked River, were found dead the afternoon of Aug. 2 at her home on Upper Kingtown Road in Franklin Township, the Hunterdon County Prosecutor’s Office said.
The night before, a dispatcher notified Franklin Township Police Sgt. Kevin Bollaro about a report of gunshots and screaming on Upper Kingtown Road.
Instead of responding directly to the scene, Bollaro went first to an ATM to conduct a transaction, the prosecutor’s office alleged.
While at the ATM, Bollaro was told by a dispatcher about a second report of gunshots and screaming, the prosecutor’s office alleged. Bollaro then proceeded to the location of the first call, allegedly without activating his lights and siren.
Around five minutes after the second call, a third call reporting gunshots and screaming was made to police and relayed to Bollaro, who ultimately met with the first caller but not the second and third callers, the prosecutor’s office said.
Approximately 17 minutes passed from the time of the first dispatch to Bollaro to when he arrived to meet with the first caller, the prosecutor’s office said. Bollaro also allegedly failed to turn on his bodycam while he met that caller.
After leaving the area, Bollaro immediately drove to Duke’s Pizzeria & Restaurant in Pittstown, where he remained for around 50 minutes, the prosecutor’s office said.
Bollaro later went to Pittstown Inn, a restaurant, and remained there for nearly an hour engaging socially with patrons, the prosecutor’s office alleged.
Bollaro then spent five hours — from around 11:27 p.m. until 4:33 a.m. — at a local cemetery, during which no law enforcement activity was recorded by him, the prosecutor’s office alleged.
Bollaro then allegedly submitted a false report about what he did that night.
The next day, as detectives were investigating the deaths of Semanchik and Webb, authorities learned that Ricardo Jorge Santos, a lieutenant with the New Jersey State Police and Semanchik’s ex-boyfriend, was found dead inside a white 2008 Mercedes SUV in Johnson Park in Piscataway, Middlesex County, the prosecutor’s office said.
Santos sustained a self-inflicted gunshot wound, which the Middlesex County Medical Examiner’s Office preliminarily determined to be a suicide, the prosecutor’s office said. A semiautomatic handgun was found inside the Mercedes.
The New York Times and other news outlets reported that Santos had previously served as a supervisor on the New Jersey governor’s protection detail.
Charles J. Sciarra, an attorney representing the Franklin Township police sergeant, said in a statement Friday morning that “nothing Kevin Bollaro did or did not do that day impacted or could have stopped that tragedy in any way.”
Sciarra said that “the evidence will show that there were delays in these 911 calls being made and dispatched,” and that “he canvassed the area thoroughly. Sgt. Kevin Bollaro has faithfully served that community for nearly 25 years [and] is not guilty of anything related to this horrendous killing. This prosecution is unfortunate.”
David Mazie, an attorney representing the families of Semanchik and Webb, said in an emailed statement Thursday evening that the families “are shocked at Sgt. Bollaro’s egregious conduct as charged by the Hunterdon County Prosecutor. We believe this to be the tip of the iceberg of the many failures by the local and state police which will be uncovered and which led to the murders of Lauren and Tyler.”
Bollaro was charged with second-degree official misconduct “for knowingly refraining from performing his police duties with purpose to obtain a personal benefit,” and disorderly persons tampering with public records or information for knowingly making false entries in his police report, the prosecutor’s office said.
Bollaro was charged on a complaint-summons and is scheduled to make his first court appearance on Nov. 5.
The prosecutor’s office previously said that Semanchik had been in a relationship with Santos that ended around September 2024, but “Semanchik alleged that Santos engaged in continued harassing and controlling behavior.”
At some point, Semanchik installed a video surveillance recording system in her vehicle, which detectives accessed and reviewed.
Video evidence showed Semanchik’s vehicle leaving the Long Valley Animal Hospital, where she worked, around 5:25 p.m. on Aug. 1 and a white 2008 Mercedes SUV was seen leaving a parking space and closely following Semanchik to her home on Upper Kingtown Road until she turned into her driveway shortly before 6 p.m., the prosecutor’s office said.
“At approximately 6:11 p.m., while Semanchik’s vehicle is parked, an individual is seen surreptitiously walking through the wooded area along the driveway leading up to the residence. And at approximately 6:45 p.m., Webb’s vehicle arrives at the residence and parks next to Semanchik’s vehicle,” the prosecutor’s office said.
Detectives said the white 2008 Mercedes SUV that followed Semanchik was the same vehicle in which Santos was found dead in Piscataway.
At a news conference in August, Mazie said Semanchik went to the Franklin Township Police Department to report her ex-boyfriend’s behavior but was told no one was available to talk to her. She was given a phone number to call, which she did, Mazie said. No one called back.
Mazie said that Semanchik’s vehicle was damaged, apparently with a key, while she was at work in May 2025. Semanchik reported the incident to the Washington Township Police Department in Morris County and to a female trooper who worked with Santos, Mazie said.
Mazie said a report from the Washington Township police indicated that Santos was contacted and denied damaging her vehicle. He was advised to avoid contact with Semanchik, Mazie said.
Mazie said he plans to sue both the New Jersey State Police and the Franklin Township Police Department for failing to act against Santos.
A Malvern man who was arrested for bringing a gun and other weapons to a “No Kings” protest in West Chester over the summer was taken into federal custody Thursday morning.
Kevin Krebs, 31, will be prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office on charges that include making and possessing explosives, according to a law enforcement source.
State charges had been filed against Krebs after investigators serving a search warrant at his home found multiple homemade pipe bombs and other explosive devices.
The case was taken over by federal authorities after months of investigation. Krebs was arrested by federal agents during his arraignment on the gun charges at the Chester County Justice Center.
Thomas G. Bellwoar Jr. and Christian J. Hoey, the attorneys representing Krebs, said in an emailed statement Thursday night: “Kevin was adopted at a very young age from a desperate environment in an orphanage in Lithuania. He has been diagnosed with significant mental health issues, including autism and Asperger syndrome. We believe his condition will be a central focus of his defense in Federal Court.”
On June 14, Krebs was arrested after other participants in a “No Kings” protest in West Chester reported to police that he was carrying a gun.
Officers confronted Krebs, who allegedly was carrying a loaded Sig Sauer handgun without a permit to carry a concealed firearm, a bayonet, pepper spray, and other weapons, police said.
Krebs was also carrying several magazines of ammunition for an assault-style rifle that was in his car nearby, police said.
When authorities searched his home on Conestoga Road, they found 13 handmade pipe bombs, along with components used to make detonators, and tactical vests and bullet-resistant armor, according to court filings.
Krebs had 21 guns total, according to authorities.
He had been released initially after posting bail, but that was later revoked and he has been in custody since.
Chester County District Attorney Chris de Barrena-Sarobe said previously that investigators were still trying to determine whether Krebs’ arrest was a “thwarted act of domestic terrorism.” The prosecutor said the case does not necessarily fit neatly into existing political narratives.
Krebs is a licensed electrician and former Home Depot employee who is registered as a Democrat but had been registered as a Republican. In recent months, he had been posting violent rhetoric against President Donald Trump and police.
