Philly Police call on public for help finding two suspects in Nicetown birthday party shooting
The shooting at the birthday party in Nicetown left Quron Ross-Weems, 26, and Nyfik Johnson, 29, dead, police said.
Philadelphia police called on the public for help as they work to find two men they say took part in a shooting at a birthday party in Nicetown on Saturday, leaving two men dead and a mother and her 7-year-old daughter injured.
Police released images of Lawrence Coleman, 25, and Virgil Williams, 29, in connection with the gunfire at a party that was thrown into chaos when authorities say an argument escalated into gunfire.
Police declined to say how investigators linked the two men to the shooting or whether they are believed to have fired weapons.
Coleman is 5′9,“ 150 lbs., with black hair and brown eyes, and Williams is 6′4," 210 lbs., also with black hair and brown eyes, police said. Both are to be considered armed and dangerous, police said, and a $20,000 reward is being offered for information leading to an arrest and conviction.
Shots rang out at the birthday gathering on tthe 1900 block of West Hunting Park Avenue after an argument among a group of men turned violent when someone opened fire, hitting a 26-year-old woman in her arm and Quron Ross-Weems, also 26, in his head, killing him, police said.
When he heard the sound of gunshots, Lonzell McDaniel, 20, came out of the house where the party was being held and started shooting a gun toward a group of people, hitting Nyfik Johnson, 29, multiple times in his head and body and grazing the side of the head of the woman’s 7-year-old daughter, police said.
The girl was taken to Jefferson Einstein Philadelphia Hospital and then St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children, where she is in stable condition, police said.
Her mother is in stable condition at Jefferson Einstein Philadelphia Hospital, police said.
Johnson and Ross-Weems were taken to Temple University Hospital, where they were pronounced dead.
Ross-Weems was shot while trying to break up the fight that led to gunfire, police said, and Johnson was tending to people who had been shot when he was struck by a bullet.
McDaniel was charged with murder and related crimes, police said. He was denied bail and is being held at Curran-Fromhold Correctional Facility.