Two men charged with murder after fatally shooting 70-year-old Delco man during carjacking, police say
The two men fled in Carmen Suero's car before ditching it and taking off on foot, police said.
Two Philadelphia men were charged with murder in the fatal shooting of a 70-year-old Delaware County man during a weekend carjacking in West Philadelphia, police said Tuesday.
Shortly after 5 p.m. Sunday, Carmen Suero Jr., 70, of Drexel Hill, left his car running outside a house on the 300 block of North 63rd Street, and in what Deputy Police Commissioner Frank Vanore described as a crime of opportunity, two men tried to steal the vehicle.
But Suero returned and got into a physical struggle with the men, and one of them took out a gun and shot him once in the back, Vanore said.
Suero was taken to Penn Presbyterian Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead minutes later, at 5:24 p.m., Vanore said.
His assailants fled in Suero’s car and drove about a block away, Vanore said,before ditching the vehicle and taking off on foot. Police found the two nearby and arrested them shortly after.
Nysiir Peoples and Nasir Brogdon were charged with murder, robbery, and related crimes, police said. A single 9mm shell casing was recovered at the scene.
Suero was in West Philadelphia, where he grew up, for a support-group meeting for people recovering from narcotics or alcohol, said his sister-in-law, Karen Santone.
Suero, a retired Navy veteran, had been sober for 20 years, she said, and had dedicated himself to helping others in recovery.
“He was a very kind, kind soul,” she said. “He was giving back to the community in a way he knew best. And he was killed. He was taken away.”
“He helped the underdog,” she added. “He helped the people he used to be get to where he is today.”
As of Monday, there have been 123 homicides in the city this year, police data show. That represents a more than 11% drop from the same time last year, when 139 homicides were reported, according to data.