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  • YBC indictment: A timeline of shootings and related charges

    YBC indictment: A timeline of shootings and related charges

    Law enforcement officials on Wednesday announced sweeping charges against 19 people affiliated with several Philadelphia gangs they say are responsible for shooting nearly three dozen people in two years.

    The indictment caps a more than two-year investigation into the Young Bag Chasers, or YBC, and rival crews including CCK and the Parkside Killers. Authorities say the groups traded gunfire in brazen retaliatory shootings — sometimes on consecutive days, often in broad daylight, and at times on the same blocks over and over again.

    The rise and fall of the Young Bag Chasers

    Below is a breakdown of the shootings included in the indictment and the defendants charged in each case, according to prosecutors:

    Sept. 21, 2022 — Shots are fired at 1400 N. 75th St. No one is struck.

    • YBC members Mark “Yak Yola” Johnson and Kasim Brown, aka “FSdaBender,” have been charged.
    Police investigate a triple shooting in the 1500 block of N. 13th street, where an 8-year-old girl was grazed in the head by a bullet on Sept. 22, 2022.

    Sept. 22, 2022 — An 8-year-old girl and 20-year-old man are shot at 1500 N. 13th St.

    • YBC members Salahhuddin Carter, aka YFA4our, and Jymir “Lil Mir” Burbage have been charged.

    Oct. 7, 2022 — Shots are fired at 3900 Wallace St. No one is struck.

    • YBC members Carter and Burbage have been charged.

    Oct. 29, 2022 — Three people are shot at 3800 Aspen St.

    • YBC members Burbage and Jerwayne Haywood have been charged.

    Nov. 30, 2022 — Shots are fired at 4300 Reno St. No one is struck.

    • YBC member Burbage has been charged.
    In this music video filmed by Marlissa Monay, Tahjae Brooks sings his 2020 song “Hear Me Out.” Brooks, or “Jae100,” was a founder of YBC and the original face and talent of the group.

    Dec. 5, 2022 — Tahjae Brooks, aka Jae100, is killed at 4300 Parrish St.

    May 16, 2023 — Kameir “T.O.” Scott is killed at 600 N. Preston St.

    • Markees Muhammad, of the Parkside Killers, is charged.

    May 27, 2023 — Three people are shot at 5200 Jefferson St.

    May 30, 2023 — Shots are fired at 5200 Jefferson St. No one is struck.

    • YBC members Burbage and Brown have been charged.

    July 8, 2023 — Sharif King, 34, is killed at 5200 Jefferson St.

    • YBC members Stephen Weddington, Hall, and Johnson have been charged.

    July 27, 2023 — Shots are fired at 100 Manton St. No one is struck.

    • CCK member Hasaan Stafford, aka “Saany Goon,” is charged. Kydair “Honcho” Strickland, a CCK/7th Street member who was killed in August 2024, was also involved, prosecutors said.

    Oct. 5, 2023 — A 20-year-old man is shot at 5200 Jefferson St.

    • YBC members Weddington and Johnson have been charged.

    Oct. 6, 2023 — A 20-year-old man is shot at 600 North Brooklyn St.

    • Parkside members Muhammad and Paul Beckwith are charged.

    Oct. 10, 2023 — Shots are fired at 2100 N 53rd St. No one is struck.

    • YBC’s Weddington charged, and CCK affiliate Strickland also fired shots, prosecutors said.

    Nov. 4, 2023 — Shots are fired at 1300 N 53rd St. No one is struck.

    • CCK’s Stafford is charged.

    Dec. 7, 2023 — Zyir “Booga” Stafford is killed while leaving his work at McDonalds, at 29th and Clearfield Streets.

    • YBC’s Weddington and Burbage have been charged.
    Zyir Stafford, a 22-year-old father of two, was shot and killed in December 2023. In this photo, he had just received his diploma from YES Philly High.

    Dec. 11, 2023 — Shots are fired at 1400 S 56th St. No one is struck.

    • CCK’s Stafford, Stigall, and Nasir “Jefe” Wells — who is serving life in prison for a separate murder — have been charged.

    Dec. 15, 2023 — Shots are fired at 2900 Girard Ave. No one is struck.

    • CCK’s Wells is charged.

    Jan. 22, 2024 — Shots are fired at 1000 Arch St. No one is struck.

    • CCK’s Wells and Stafford are charged.

    March 13, 2024 — Shots are fired at 4300 Lancaster Ave. No one is struck.

    • Parkside’s Muhammad is charged.

    May 18, 2024 — Qaadir Cheeks, aka 55Qua, is killed at 5500 Baltimore Ave.

    • YBC’s Weddington, Burbage, Hamzah Curry, and Hasin “HassPNB” Muse, have been charged with murder. Tatiana Edwards has been charged with criminal conspiracy to murder after officials said she lured Cheeks outside to ultimately be shot.

    Dec. 8, 2025 — A 24-year-old man is shot multiple times at 4800 Folsom St.

    • Hasaan Taylor, aka YBC Waters, who was recently released from federal custody, was arrested Wednesday and has been charged in the case outside of the grand jury indictment.
  • A sixth YBC member was arrested overnight and will be charged with two killings

    A sixth YBC member was arrested overnight and will be charged with two killings

    A sixth person associated with the Young Bag Chasers was arrested overnight and is expected to be charged with two homicides, prosecutors said.

    Hamzah Curry, 25, was taken into custody Wednesday evening in Kansas City, Mo., after spending nearly a year on the run after the killing of a 36-year-old man in 2021.

    Curry was also newly wanted in connection with the killing of Qaadir Cheeks, a 20-year-old better known as “55Qua,” who was shot and killed near 55th Street and Baltimore Avenue in May 2024, said Assistant District Attorney Bill Fritze, supervisor of the Gun Violence Task Force in the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office.

    Curry is one of 19 people indicted by a grand jury as part of a sprawling investigation by Philadelphia police and prosecutors into years of retaliatory shootings between West Philadelphia gangs, Fritze said.

    He will be charged once he is extradited to Philadelphia, he said.

    Officials identified him as a member of Young Face Arrangers, or YFA, a younger subset of YBC. He is also the older brother of Arshad Curry, another YBC/YFA member, who is serving 42½ to 85 years in prison for killing three people in 2021.

    A warrant was issued for Hamzah Curry’s arrest last spring after detectives tied him to the killing of Stangely Bertrand on the 300 block of North Salford Street on July 16, 2021.

    Investigators believe Bertrand, who was shot in the head, was a bystander caught in the crossfire, according to a law enforcement source familiar with the investigation.

    Salahuddin Carter, 21, another YBC/YFA member known as “YFA4our,” was arrested and charged with Bertrand’s death in June.

    Carter was also charged Wednesday with two additional shootings — including the shooting of an 8-year-old near 13th and Oxford Streets in 2022 — as part of the indictment.

    Investigators tied Carter and Curry to Bertrand’s killing after Carter, who was 16 at the time, was shot twice in the stomach during the exchange of gunfire, and Curry drove him to the hospital, according to the affidavit of probable cause for Carter’s arrest.

    Inside Curry’s car, police found two 9mm handguns, blue latex gloves, and live rounds, the affidavit said. A ballistics report later showed that both guns were fired on Salford Street the night Bertrand was killed, the records say.

    And then, this month, Curry was also sought in the killing of Cheeks, whom YBC members shot more than a dozen times in West Philadelphia.

    Four others have been charged in that case: Stephen “Baby Yopp” Weddington, Jymir “Lil Mir” Burbage, Hasin Muse, and Tatiana Edwards.

    The Philadelphia Police Department’s homicide fugitive task force and U.S. marshals had been working to locate Curry since last year, and on Wednesday evening found him at a motel in Missouri, the source said.

  • SEPTA trolleys will use AI cameras to catch drivers breaking no-parking rules in Philly

    SEPTA trolleys will use AI cameras to catch drivers breaking no-parking rules in Philly

    Beginning Monday, people who illegally park in SEPTA trolley lanes and stops could be caught in the act by automated enforcement cameras, the Philadelphia Parking Authority announced Thursday.

    Plans call for installing AI-camera systems on 30 trolleys across the six lines in the city to identify and ticket the owners of vehicles obstructing the streetcars or making it hard for passengers to board by blocking stops.

    Violations will carry a $51 fine as of April 1. Before then, warnings will be mailed instead of tickets.

    Parking violations are the enemies of surface transit, slowing buses and trolleys, making them less reliable and putting riders in danger.

    Already, 152 SEPTA buses have been using cameras mounted in their windshields to enforce parking rules; ticketing began last year.

    SEPTA, PPA, and the Philadelphia Office of Transportation and Infrastructure Systems are collaborating on the effort. It uses camera systems made installed and maintained by Hayden AI, a San Francisco-based tech company.

    “A single illegally parked vehicle can disrupt service for thousands of riders and create unsafe boarding conditions that force passengers into moving traffic,” PPA executive director Rich Lazer said in a statement.

    “This is more than a minor inconvenience,” he said.

    Legislation sponsored by Councilmember Mark Squilla and enacted in 2023 authorized using cameras mounted on buses and trolleys to enforce no-parking rules in Philadelphia.

    “One of the most annoying things about this city is people stopping their cars wherever they want to stop them, in bus lanes, double parking. It just screws everything up,” then-Mayor Jim Kenney said at a news conference.

    According to a 2019 study SEPTA commissioned from Econsult Solutions, Center City congestion causes 1.7 million hours of passenger delays per year, adding $15.4 million to yearly operating costs.

    And then there is the almost incalculable cost to people who depend on buses and trolleys.

    “In a city where 42% of Black residents and 50% of impoverished households do not own a car, efficient public transit is paramount to creating a strong transportation network that better provides economic opportunity for all,” said Christopher Puchalsky, director of policy and strategic initiatives for OTIS.

    In a 70-day trial in the spring of 2023, windshield-mounted video cameras recorded 36,392 instances of illegally parked vehicles blocking Center City bus-only lanes and bus stops in West Philadelphia and Upper Darby.

    In some situations, SEPTA bus operators can steer around parked cars. Trolleys, running on fixed rails, don’t have any real flexibility when they are boxed out of their lanes.

    SEPTA officials say bus speeds have improved on routes using the cameras. An average of about 14,746 violations are issued each month, according to PPA.

    The cameras use artificial intelligence to determine if a car is stopped or parked to obstruct transit lanes and stops. Then, the systems transmit the vehicle’s license plate number and precise location to the Philadelphia Parking Authority using cloud technology.

    “Keeping trolley zones clear isn’t just about enforcing parking rules — it’s about keeping Philadelphia moving,” said Marty Beard, CEO of Hayden AI. He added that Philadelphia will be the first city to deploy the cameras on trolleys.

  • Don’t make Parkway Northwest a ‘sacrificial lamb’, those fighting its closure say

    Don’t make Parkway Northwest a ‘sacrificial lamb’, those fighting its closure say

    Lyric Jenkins is a strong student, with a report card full of As and Bs.

    She approached her high school selection process seriously, finally zeroing in on a school that checked all her boxes. Jenkins chose Parkway Northwest High School for Peace and Social Justice, she said, because it was an academically rigorous magnet school, safe — and not huge.

    “I wanted a small community where I could be seen,” said Jenkins, now a 10th grader at Parkway Northwest in East Germantown.

    Last month, Jenkins was “shocked” to find her school was being targeted for closure, in part because of the very size that drew her to choose it.

    Philadelphia School District officials have proposed closing Parkway Northwest and 19 other schools, colocating six more and modernizing 159 under a sweeping facilities plan. The proposal calls for closing Parkway Northwest in 2027 and making it an honors program inside Martin Luther King, a large comprehensive high school about half a mile away.

    Student Alasia Payne speaks during a rally for peace and social justice on Wednesday outside Parkway Northwest in protest of its potential closure.

    That plan has drawn fire from many, including more than 100 Parkway Northwest students, who walked out of school en masse Wednesday to protest — waving signs, singing, and banging drums.

    Those fighting to save the school argue that its small size is an asset, and enrollment has been growing, and they have expressed safety concerns about sending children to Martin Luther King.

    More students choosing Parkway NW

    District leaders have said their plan is not motivated by finances, though there is clearly a desire to shrink the school system’s footprint, with 70,000 empty seats citywide. Some schools are less than a quarter full, and others, mostly in the Northeast, don’t have enough room to accommodate all the students enrolled.

    Superintendent Tony B. Watlington Sr. said the plan will provide a stronger and more equitable education for students citywide.

    Closing Parkway Northwest is part of a strategy to shut a handful of small district magnet or citywide schools, moving them into reinvigorate neighborhood high schools.

    That strategy has been uniformly denounced by staff, students, and parents at Parkway Northwest and the other schools that would be forced to surrender their independence — Parkway West, Motivation, Lankenau, and Robeson. All have been affected by changes to the district’s special admission process, which shifted the district to a strict centralized lottery, stripping away from schools the ability to have any discretion over their incoming classes.

    Parkway Northwest and the other magnets all saw enrollment tumble after the forced move to the lottery — a factor that’s now being used against them.

    Student Dane McFarland speaks during a rally outside Parkway Northwest High School on Wednesday.

    The school has worked diligently to build enrollment back up, said Beth Ziegenfus, Parkway Northwest’s school-based teacher leader and the coordinator of its robust dual enrollment program.

    “More students have been choosing Parkway,” Ziegenfus said. “If you think about what our projected enrollment is for next year, we’re looking at an extra 150 kids that we could have here.”

    The closure recommendation discounts that growth, Ziegenfus said, and it also threatens students like Jenkins.

    “These small schools offer something to students who don’t thrive in large environments,” said Ziegenfus. “There is something to be said about kids knowing every single adult in the school — it contributes to the safety. When every child knows you and you know every child, you’re able to offer support, or redirect behaviors, or offer assistance.”

    Ziegenfus spent years teaching at Frankford, another large neighborhood school. She said she cares about comprehensive high schools, sees their value, and believes they need more resources. But those resources shouldn’t come at the expense of Parkway and other small schools.

    “We should invest in King, but two things can be true at the same time. We need Parkway,” said Ziegenfus. “They’re really disrupting the children here, and the children at King, and the incoming kids who are going through the school selection process.”

    ‘They’re going to flee somewhere else’

    At recent district meetings about the proposed Parkway Northwest closure, anger bubbled over.

    Students, teachers, and community members disputed the district’s statistics around the school in a meeting with district officials, saying its 60% building capacity score was off.

    But mostly, they raised alarms about safety.

    “My question is, how will I be able to grow my education at a bigger school if I don’t even feel safe there?” said Sanai Williams, a Parkway Northwest 10th grader. “I don’t feel like I’m going to be able to grow my education if I’m watching my back, thinking I’m going to get attacked every which way at King.”

    Parkway Northwest High School in Philadelphia.

    Rodrigo Fernández, the Parkway Northwest Spanish teacher, said he was frustrated by a perceived lack of real opportunity to shape the plan.

    “You are not listening to us,” Fernández said. “You haven’t heard one single person saying, ‘I am excited about this plan.’ If you want to retain our students, you won’t retain them by doing this. They’re going to flee somewhere else. They didn’t choose that setting.”

    Over 1,500 community members have signed a Change.org petition calling for the district to reverse the closure recommendation.

    A peace and social justice mission

    Parkway Northwest, said Elliott Seif — a retired educator and author who’s volunteered at Parkway Northwest for 15 years — is being offered up as “sacrificial lamb to do something at Martin Luther King, which it may not be able to do.”

    And Paula Paul, another longtime Parkway Northwest volunteer, said the very nature of the school makes it essential in the city.

    Students walked out of Parkway Northwest on Wednesday to protest its closure.

    “Does not our city need a school devoted to peace, social justice, and violence prevention, and one where people have formed a community that is functional, a school that works, a school where kids want to be?” Paul asked district officials. “We’ve been struggling to get schools that are functioning, not to lose students, for students to feel safe, to feel connected. Why would we close this school?”

    Watlington is expected to present his plan to the school board Thursday, but the board will not vote then. A date for the final decision on closures and other changes has not yet been set.

  • Franklin Mall in Northeast Philly closed because of small fire

    Franklin Mall in Northeast Philly closed because of small fire

    The Franklin Mall, which many locals still call Franklin Mills, is temporarily closed due to required city inspections after a small fire over the weekend at the once-popular Northeast Philadelphia retail destination that is now listed for sale, the property management said Wednesday.

    No injuries were reported after the fire occurred on Feb. 21 within a single tenant space, the management said in a Facebook post.

    The Philadelphia Department of Licenses and Inspections “issued a temporary closure notice while required inspections are completed to ensure building safety and building structural integrity,” the post said.

    The management said it “immediately engaged licensed professionals and qualified vendors to evaluate the affected area and confirm that all life-safety systems are fully operational.”

    City officials could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

    The management of Franklin Mall said it was “working closely with city officials to complete all necessary inspections and secure the approvals required to safely reopen the property as quickly as possible. The safety of our tenants, employees, and visitors remains our top priority.”

    In the meantime, Walmart, Marshalls and HomeGoods, and Dave & Buster’s remain open for business, according to the mall’s website.

    The Inquirer reported in early December that the mall was listed for sale and the 36-year-old, 1.8-million-square-foot facility at Knights and Woodhaven Roads could be repurposed or demolished for non-retail uses.

    The mall opened in 1989 to great fanfare as the largest outlet mall ever, with a zigzag-shaped, one-story-tall concourse that stretched for 1.2 miles.

    Franklin Mills once attracted 20 million visitors annually, but now has less than a third of that traffic.

    Under new ownership, it was renamed Philadelphia Mills, and most recently it has been called Franklin Mall, though a main entrance sign still says Philadelphia Mills.

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  • 19 people connected to YBC gang feuds to be charged in sprawling indictment

    19 people connected to YBC gang feuds to be charged in sprawling indictment

    Nineteen people are expected to be charged in the coming days in connection with a yearslong West Philadelphia gang war that investigators say fueled nearly two dozen shootings — including at least five homicides — across the city, law enforcement officials announced Wednesday.

    The defendants include members of the Young Bag Chasers, or YBC, as well as people affiliated with the rival crews caught in a multiyear cycle of retaliation.

    Five people were taken into custody Wednesday morning as part of a sweeping investigation by Philadelphia police and prosecutors into the back-and-forth shootings that occurred between 2022 and 2024. Several of those expected to be charged are already behind bars — either awaiting trial or serving sentences for separate crimes.

    Nearly two dozen shootings were linked to the feud between YBC and CCK.

    Officials said investigators linked nearly two dozen shootings to the groups — with a total of 35 victims between the ages of 5 and 42.

    The indictment follows a multiyear probe by Philadelphia police and the District Attorney’s Office’s Gun Violence Task Force into YBC and its affiliated groups — including the Young Face Arrangers and Northwest Philadelphia-based crew PNB — as well as rival members from the Parkside Killers and CCK, a trio of allied crews from West and South Philadelphia.

    The rise and fall of the Young Bag Chasers

    Which cases were solved?

    One of the five homicides solved is that of Zyir Stafford, better known as “Booga,” who was shot and killed by YBC members while leaving work at a North Philadelphia McDonald’s in December 2023.

    Police said he was not involved with the feud, but his brother was affiliated with CCK — and so YBC targeted him.

    Zyir Stafford, a 22-year-old father of two, was shot and killed in December 2023.

    YBC members mocked Stafford’s death online and in songs. They planned to sell weed out of McDonald’s Happy Meal boxes, named albums after him, and filmed music videos inside the fast food restaurants — all attempts to profit off the carnage.

    On Wednesday, police said they linked two YBC members to Stafford’s killing: Stephen Weddington, aka Baby Yopp, and Jymir Burbage, aka Lil Mir.

    Police also solved the killings of two well-known YBC members.

    Tahjae Brooks, 21, a rapper and founding member of YBC known as “Jae100,” was shot and killed in December 2022.

    Police said they charged three CCK members with his death: Anthony Lacey-Woodson, or “Pistol P” — who is serving 45 to 90 years in prison for killing three other people — as well as Ronnie Vincent-Quan and Herman “Cherm” Stigall.

    In this music video filmed by Marlissa Monay, Tahjae Brooks sings his 2020 song “Hear Me Out.” Brooks, or “Jae100,” was a founder of YBC and the original face and talent of the group.

    Six months later, Brooks’ best friend Kameir Scott, or “T.O.,” was shot and killed on the 600 block of North Preston Street. Markees Muhammad, of the Parkside Killers, has been charged with that crime, prosecutors said.

    YBC members were charged in two other homicides.

    Weddington and Burbage — as well as Hasin Muse and Tatiana Edwards — have been charged with killing Qaadir Cheeks, a CCK affiliate known as “55Qua” who was killed in May 2024 near 55th and Baltimore.

    Weddington was also charged with the murder of Sharif King in Parkside in July 2023, as well as several nonfatal shootings.

    Who else was charged?

    YBC and CCK have been in a violent, public feud for years that became fueled by retaliatory violence and social media.

    Most members of YBC and CCK are aspiring drill rappers who write songs about the ongoing shootings and conflicts, trolling homicide victims and their families, and encouraging more violence — and building a social media and music following in the process.

    Bill Fritze, supervisor for Gun Violence Task Force, speaks during a news conference on the arrest of 19 people Wednesday.

    “The same group of people repeatedly were doing shootings, using the same guns … and bragging about it,” said Assistant District Attorney Anna Walters.

    Investigators with the Gun Violence Task Force and police department had been investigating YBC, CCK, and allied groups for at least two years, monitoring their social media pages and music videos, and slowly connecting them to a host of crimes, Walters said.

    They used ballistic evidence, phone records, and social media to solve the cases, she said.

    One of CCK’s most prominent members — Hasaan Stafford, or Saany Goon — was charged Wednesday with committing four shootings in which no one was injured, officials said.

    And prominent YBC member Kasim Brown, aka FSdaBender or “Fat Seem,” was charged with three nonfatal shootings. Brown is currently in federal custody, charged with gun crimes.

    "Bumblebee Gang," filmed by "DJBey215," Abdul Vicks, YBC
    In the music video “Bumblebee Gang,” filmed by “DJBey215,” Abdul Vicks, left, smokes a joint as his friends flash a gun to the camera.

    The indictment comes even as the number of people affiliated with YBC has dwindled in recent years, and the groups’ feuds have quieted. The face of YBC, Abdul Vicks, aka YBC Dul, was shot and killed in August 2024. Many other members are serving decades in prison for murder.

    Still, there were dozens of shootings connected to their feuds that remained unsolved — including the killings of many of YBC’s members.

    Capt. James Kearney, head of the police department’s nonfatal shooting unit, said officers are always working to solve shootings even as years have passed.

    “They might have thought they got away with it,” he said. “But they didn’t.”

  • Lower Merion police shot and killed a former child abuse investigator wanted for child rape, authorities said

    Lower Merion police shot and killed a former child abuse investigator wanted for child rape, authorities said

    A former Morton Borough police officer is dead after Lower Merion police shot and killed him when he exchanged gunfire with officers in Bala Cynwyd Wednesday morning, authorities said.

    Francis Connell Collier, 38, who previously served as a part-time officer in the Delaware County borough, was wanted on charges of rape and other sex crimes involving children at the time of the shooting.

    Authorities said Lower Merion police spotted Collier’s vehicle on Old Lancaster Road in the Bala Cynwyd section of the township around 3:48 a.m. When they saw him return to his car, police said, officers confronted him, and he shot at the officers, who returned fire, fatally wounding him.

    The officers had not been serving a warrant for Collier’s arrest at the time of the shooting, but the department was aware of the charges against him, said Lower Merion Police Capt. John Tucci.

    Charges in the rape case had been filed Tuesday in Upper Darby, according to a spokesperson for the Attorney General’s Office, which brought the case against him.

    In addition to serving in Morton, Collier was previously a member of the Delaware County District Attorney’s Office’s Child Abuse and Exploitation Task Force, a spokesperson for District Attorney Tanner Rouse said.

    Collier’s appointment in 2022 was not made during Rouse’s tenure, and he was removed from the task force the following year during a leadership change within the unit, the spokesperson said.

    When the sex abuse allegations against Collier were reported to authorities late last year, Rouse’s office initially investigated, but later referred the case to state prosecutors because of a conflict of interest.

    In a statement on Collier’s shooting death Wednesday, the Delaware County DA’s Office said he ”reportedly engaged in actions that led to what has been described as ‘suicide by cop.’”

    Police have not released the names of the officers involved in the shooting, which is under investigation by the Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office. It was unclear whether the officers had been placed on leave, as is customary, as the inquiry continues.

    Morton Borough police learned of the criminal investigation in December, department officials said, and Collier was placed on unpaid administrative leave.

    He resigned from the department on Dec. 19, they said.

    The criminal case against Collier began late last year, authorities said, when Delaware County investigators learned that he may have sexually abused children.

    Two women told investigators Collier had touched them inappropriately in the early 2000s, when they were five and six years old and Collier was a teenager, according to the affidavit of probable cause for his arrest. The women said the abuse began in 2001 and 2003, the affidavit said.

    Collier was 15 when he assaulted the first victim the document said.

    The second woman said Collier had assaulted her as well, framing the abuse as a “game” that involved sex toys and sex acts. She said she told her mother at the time that Collier was touching her inappropriately but when confronted, she said, he denied the abuse.

    Years later, the women said, they learned that Collier worked with Delaware County’s child abuse task force, which investigates sex crimes against children. They said they grew worried when they saw social media posts showing Collier posing with children, the document said.

    When investigators interviewed Collier about the allegations in early December, the affidavit said, he failed a polygraph test, but told detectives he “never intentionally touched the girls inappropriately.”

    Investigators referred the case to the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office that month because of a possible conflict or interest, the affidavit said. State investigators later interviewed people who said the women had told them of the abuse years ago when they were children, and prosecutors filed the criminal charges against Collier on Tuesday, just hours before his death.

    Lower Merion police said the shooting took place in the area of Old Lancaster Road and City Avenue, a block from St. Joe’s University and not far from Edgehill Court, the apartment complex where Collier lived.

    A neighbor, Liam Riley, said he heard at least seven shots ring out when police confronted Collier.

    “I saw a officer run up, grab something out of his trunk, and then run back up to [Collier’s] car,” Riley, a St. Joe’s University senior, said. “Then I heard them yelling to the guy, ‘Put your hands out of the window, put your hands out of the window.”

    Juliette Palasol, a student at Drexel University who lives a block away with her family, said they didn’t hear the early morning gunfire, but her father left for work at 5 a.m. to find that many of the neighborhood roads closed.

    “I couldn’t believe it — my brother, my cousins — none of us heard it,” Palasol said, outside the Edgehill Court. “I was just surprised to see police bring out firetrucks, drones, and robotic dogs to the scene.”

    Around noon on Wednesday, police officers, assisted by Union Fire Association, raised a ladder to Collier’s third-story apartment, where officers broke through the window and piloted a drone inside to conduct an initial search of his residence. Officers also used a robotic dog to search the apartment “out of an abundance of caution,” police said.

  • City will pay $2,000 toward Philly homicide victims’ funerals in new program

    City will pay $2,000 toward Philly homicide victims’ funerals in new program

    Families of people killed in Philadelphia will be eligible to receive up to $2,000 to help cover funeral costs under a new city program announced Wednesday.

    The initiative, called the Homicide Victim Funeral Assistance (HVFA) Program, will be available to families whose loved ones are killed on or after March 1, city officials said. The money will be paid directly to funeral service providers, with applications reviewed within 48 hours, they said.

    “Grief is not a bill you should have to carry alone,” said Adam Geer, the city’s chief public safety director, during a news conference unveiling the program.

    The program will be administered by the city’s Office of the Victim Advocate, a division of its Office of Public Safety created last year and led by Adara Combs.

    Combs said the initiative grew out of conversations with families who found themselves planning funerals while still in shock, and struggling financially.

    “This program is born out of listening,” she said.

    The average funeral costs $9,100 in Philadelphia, according to data collected by the Senior Rate Registry. When a loved one is murdered, that expense can arrive suddenly and without warning, Geer said.

    To qualify for aid, families must show their loved one was killed in the city and that their death was ruled a homicide, Combs said.

    The city’s program is meant to be a supplement to existing state aid. Families may also apply for up to $6,500 reimbursement through the state’s Victims Compensation Assistance Program, she said.

    The announcement comes as homicides in Philadelphia have fallen sharply in recent years. After peaking at 562 killings in 2021, the city recorded 255 murders last year — its lowest number in 60 years, according to police data. As of Tuesday, 15 people had been killed so far this year.

    Mayor Cherelle L. Parker said the program is a way for the city to move beyond platitudes.

    “I get so tired of telling people that … our thoughts and prayers are with you,” she said. “We’re sending thoughts and prayers, but they’re literally looking at funeral bills, and they’re trying to figure out, in the midst of this loss, how will we pay?”

    “I am proud that we have been able to come together and use government as a tool to help families in need,” she said.

    To receive additional information or apply after March 1, call 215-686-2115 or email OVAfuneralfund@phila.gov.

  • Philly’s Greyhound station is one step closer to finding a permanent home

    Philly’s Greyhound station is one step closer to finding a permanent home

    Lights shine from a window of the abandoned Greyhound intercity bus terminal on Filbert Street as construction crews demolish fixtures and begin renovations ahead of a May reopening.

    While the old depot is ready for crowds of travelers attending high-profile special events this year, the city Department of Planning and Development has identified three possible locations for a permanent intercity bus station.

    Officials sifted through 208 possible locations over the past two years before zeroing in on the three sites:

    • Eighth and Arch Streets: A pair of parking lots on Arch Street near Eighth Street next to the African American Museum. The lots, at 701-709 and 721-737 Arch St., are owned by the city and Parkway Corp.
    • 15th and Vine Streets: The Philadelphia Gateway Garage at 1540 Vine St. along with an adjoining parking lot. They are owned by the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation and the Philadelphia Parking Authority.
    • Near 30th Street Station: A parking lot just north of 30th Street Station, at 2931 Arch St., near the Cira Centre office tower.

    On Wednesday, the city Planning Commission is holding a public open house at Independence Visitors Center from 6 to 8 p.m. People can learn about the sites, share their ideas, and ask questions about the future home of an intercity bus facility.

    There’s also an online survey collecting opinions about what the intercity bus station needs and where it should go, due March 13.

    The former Greyhound terminal at 1001 Filbert St. “is not a long-term solution for the city’s intercity bus needs,” city officials say, though it will provide a safe and comfortable indoor station for travelers, as opposed to the current, haphazard outdoor curbside loading zones along Spring Garden Street near Columbus Boulevard.

    It is scheduled to reopen in plenty of time for events celebrating America’s 250th birthday and World Cup soccer tournament matches in the summer.

    That’s why the city turned to the old station as a stopgap solution. The Philadelphia Parking Authority will operate the facility under a 10-year renewable lease with the private group of New York investors that owns it.

    The city says its goal is a modern “transportation hub” with amenities for travelers and bus operators and, ideally, some development built around the facility. It would be owned by the city.

    “Public ownership means it won’t be closed down by a landlord or private bus company,” the planning department said in a statement. In addition, the forever depot “could be designed to have housing in the floors above the station or retail spaces within the station. These uses could help support … construction and operation.”

    Why was Philly’s Greyhound terminal moved?

    Greyhound ran the terminal at 10th and Filbert for more than three decades but pulled out in June 2023, ending its lease with the owners amid the bus company’s push to cut costs by shedding real estate it owned or rented nationwide.

    Other intercity bus carriers have done the same, operating from curbsides in a number of cities.

    Greyhound may have had to leave the property anyway because the Philadelphia 76ers in 2022 proposed building a new arena on top of it and Filbert Street.

    When those plans fell through, the building was empty again, while Greyhound, its parent company FlixBus, and family-owned Peter Pan Bus Lines were operating at curbside on the 600 block of Market Street. That site, chosen by city officials, lacked benches, bathrooms, or shelter for customers.

    Traffic was a mess, and SEPTA had to reroute some of its metro bus routes for a time.

    In November 2023, Greyhound and the other carriers moved operations to a corner in Northern Liberties along Spring Garden Street with more space than the Market Street block. City officials promised it was temporary, but the “station” is still there, with attendant trash and disruptions to local business.

    Plans to move intercity bus operations elsewhere collapsed amid community opposition, notably to a proposal to use the first level of an Old City parking garage at Second and Walnut Streets as a temporary terminal.

    Consultants and city planners picked 35 potential sites for closer analysis. They were looking for places that could accommodate a multistory, mixed-used development in addition to a station and that were close to Center City or University City, transit, and highway ramps.

    They also preferred a publicly owned space not already marked for development, according to a document prepared for the public meeting.

    In the end, three places checked most boxes.

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    Site pros and cons

    Eighth and Arch Streets

    The Eighth and Arch site has room for 18 bus parking spots, the planning department said. It could fit a 113,000-square-foot station and an overall 640,000-square-foot development.

    Strengths: Proximity to several transit stops and to I-676 and I-95, as well as the potential to build public parking above the station and to use the African American Museum building when that entity moves to the Parkway.

    Challenges: The ownership, split between the city and a private corporation, could require coordinating with the Federal Detention Center there on the southwest corner, and buses may need to be routed through Chinatown.

    15th and Vine

    At 15th and Vine Streets, the Gateway garage could fit 16 bus slips, a 112,000-square-foot station, and a 1.37 million-square-foot development, planners say.

    Strengths: It’s next to I-676 and close to transit. Plus, it is owned by PennDot and operated by PPA.

    Challenges: The parcel is split in ways that could hinder bus circulation, and Spring Street nearby would need to be converted to one-way.

    Near 30th Street Station

    The site at 30th and Arch Streets could fit 12 bus slips as is, or the deck on which the lot sits could be expanded to fit 24 spaces.

    Strengths: The site has quick access to SEPTA and NJ Transit stops, Amtrak, and I-76. There are dining options in the area.

    Challenges: Amtrak owns the property, however, and the city would have to coordinate with the company to develop over the railroad tracks and the structural work needed to strengthen the lot and ramps for heavy bus traffic. PennDot also has said there would have to be substantial work to the entrance and exit ramps to the Schuylkill Expressway.

    What’s next?

    The city plans to consider the feedback it gets Wednesday, update the schematics, and then hold another public event later in the year. It hopes to have a final report by the end of 2026 that names the site.

    And then begins the long process of acquiring the site, designing the project, and figuring out how to pay for it.

  • Philly has lots of trails. For the first time, it is hiring a full-time crew to maintain them.

    Philly has lots of trails. For the first time, it is hiring a full-time crew to maintain them.

    Philadelphia’s miles of trails draw a constant stream of runners, walkers, hikers, cyclists, and commuters.

    Yet for years, city officials have depended on residents calling in or logging in to the 311 system to report trail issues before a crew was sent out.

    Now, Philadelphia Parks and Recreation (PPR) is set to roll out the city’s first dedicated trail-maintenance crew, a pilot program funded by a $600,000 grant from the William Penn Foundation.

    The money will fund a six-person team tasked exclusively with monitoring and maintaining multiuse trails that thread through 10 watershed-protecting parks.

    Susan Buck, PPR’s deputy commissioner of operations, said the crew would launch this summer and resolve a long-standing logistical problem.

    “The focus has always been on building the trails,“ Buck said. ”However, in recent years we would go to community meetings and hear more about trail maintenance.”

    Right now, addressing a downed tree or a washed-out path means pulling staff away from recreation centers and neighborhood parks. A dedicated trail crew will ease that strain, she said, and position the city to address issues before they snowball into bigger problems.

    Now, PPR can be proactive, she said.

    Parks are priorities

    The crew’s immediate priority will be to rotate through 10 watershed parks, such as Wissahickon Valley, Pennypack, Tacony Creek, and Cobbs Creek. Crews will also monitor the Schuylkill River Trail, which recently saw major repairs to sinkholes and storm damage.

    Buck said the crew will initially be responsible for about 80 miles of trails.

    The city has 166 miles of trails or more depending on what’s being counted. Overall, PPR manages asphalt, gravel, and dirt trails that residents use not only for recreation but for commuting and walking neighborhood to neighborhood.

    The new crew will have skid-steer loaders, which are small versatile vehicles with mechanized arms and buckets used to clear, dig, grade, and lift. And they’ll have other equipment such as wood chippers and chainsaws.

    For the average park-goer, it should translate to a smoother weekend run, daily commute, or less frustrating bike ride, Buck said.

    “Overall, people will see safer trails and more enjoyable trails,” Buck added. “If you’re a runner or cyclist getting hit by overgrown brush, maybe we’ll be able to get to that faster. Ruts and divots should get filled in faster.”

    By having a mobile team that can move from the Wissahickon to East Fairmount Park, the city aims to create a uniform experience for all users.

    Buck has been working alongside Sarah Clark Stuart, the trails manager for the Streets Department.

    The two are working toward a cost-sharing agreement between the two departments to turn the pilot program into an annual part of the city budget.

    That way the crew can continue to clear overgrown brush, haul away downed trees, fix washouts, tackle soil erosion, eliminate tripping hazards, and clean graffiti off signs.

    The pilot program could use existing employees or result in new hires, she said.

    ‘Great cities have great parks’

    Sara Stevenson, executive director of Friends of the Wissahickon (FOW), said the dedicated crew represents a shift in the way the city has viewed its natural assets. The nonprofit FOW helps manage the city-owned Wissahickon Valley Park.

    The 2,000-acre park has more than 50 miles of paved and dirt trails. The new trail crew will be assigned to help with paved paths and major arteries like Forbidden Drive.

    “It’s a great program,” Stevenson said. “The more we can invest in Parks and Rec, the better our city will be. This is a good step forward and a recognition of how important the trail system is.”

    The Wissahickon relies on thousands of volunteers annually to pull invasive species, clear debris, and help with other maintenance. Stevenson said that the demands of maintaining sustainable trails requires a professional, daily presence.

    “Great cities have great parks,” Stevenson said. “I think what we’ll see is a new standard of care … It’s an illustration that the city understands the value of the trail across the entire city.”