Tag: philadelphia

Leftist journalist who downplayed violent crime gunned down in his Philly home

Josh Kruger, a leftist journalist and activist who was based in Philadelphia, was shot and killed inside his home on Monday. Kruger had a long history of downplaying violent crime in the city, often openly mocking those who expressed concerns about homicides in Philadelphia.

“Look, it’s that lawless land of liberals in Philly where shootings are…dropping to levels not seen in years,” read a past post by Kruger.

“Some idiot just said you’re more likely to get shot and killed than die of COVID in Philly to make some insensitive rhetorical point for ‘his side.’ Folks, four times as many Philadelphians have died of COVID than gun shots this year. I understand math is hard but do better,” stated another. 

The 39-year-old Kruger was shot seven times at a residence in the 2300 block of Watkins Street around 1:30 am Monday, reports 6 ABC.

Keep reading

Exclusive video captures smoke shop raid in Philadelphia

Authorities across the region are cracking down on illegal marijuana operations.

Law enforcement raided a total of five smoke shops in Philadelphia and South Jersey.

Police said some of the shops were allegedly selling to minors.

Only the Action News Investigative Team was there as officers with the Philadelphia Police’s Narcotics Unit raided a home and smoke shop on the 6000 block of Lansdowne Avenue in Overbook on Monday.

This shop was one of three in the city raided for allegedly selling illegal marijuana products.

The other two are on the 2200 block of South 21st Street in South Philadelphia and the 7900 block of Verree Road in Fox Chase.

Police took out boxes of evidence from the Overbrook shop, and two men were arrested and taken away in handcuffs.

Keep reading

Flight Attendant Found Dead in Philadelphia Hotel with Sock in Mouth Identified

Officials have identified the 66-year-old American Airlines flight attendant found dead late Monday in a Philadelphia hotel room with a sock in her mouth.

According to authorities, Diana Ramos’s body was found at the Philadelphia Airport Marriott, Fox News reported Thursday.

Housekeepers in the building discovered her body just before 11:00 p.m., according to Breitbart News, noting she was supposed to have checked out of the hotel two days before.

There were reportedly no signs indicating forced entry or a struggle at the scene.

An image shows Ramos, who was reportedly from Las Vegas. A Fly Guy’s Crew Lounge described her as a “seasoned crew member.”

Officials are calling her death “suspicious” and homicide investigators are working to gather answers in the case. According to law enforcement, there were no weapons found at the scene and no one has been arrested regarding the incident.

Keep reading

American Airlines Flight Attendant Found Dead With Sock in Her Mouth in Hotel Room

Editor’s note: New information has come to light, and it has been confirmed that it was a “cloth” rather than a “sock” that was found in the airline attendant’s mouth, according to the New York Post.

An American Airlines attendant has been found dead in a hotel room in Philadelphia.

The attendant’s identity has not been made public. According to NBC 10 News, Chief Inspector Scott Small reported the cause of death “has not been determined.”

Small added the following details:

The attendant was 66 and a resident of Las Vegas.

The woman was found by the Marriott hotel cleaning staff. Medics responded quickly and pronounced her dead at the scene at 10:40 a.m., Monday, Sept. 25.

The woman was to have checked out two days prior.

Sealed prescription bottles were found inside the room.

Officials have verified that the attendant had been prescribed “several medications.”

The room showed no signs of forced entry or struggle.

No weapons were found inside the room.

The woman’s identity is being withheld pending an autopsy.

Keep reading

Suicide ruling upheld for Philly teacher found with 20 stab wounds but judges slam ‘deeply flawed’ investigation

An appellate court panel upheld a ruling that a Philadelphia teacher found dead in 2011 with 20 stab wounds had killed herself, but slammed the police investigation as “deeply flawed,” according to court documents.

The family of Ellen Greenberg, 27, has fought for more than a decade to overturn the city’s ruling over the death of the teacher, whose corpse was riddled with stab wounds, including 10 to the back of the head and neck.

Greenberg’s family hired a team of experts in the aftermath of her death who pointed out that a knife in her apartment was overturned, possibly suggesting that she had been involved in a struggle, and a gash on the back of her head may have rendered her unconscious and unable to defend herself.

Her family has also questioned why she filled up her gas tank before coming home and didn’t leave a note indicating that she planned to take her own life.

An appellate panel ruled Wednesday that Greenberg’s parents, Joshua and Sandra, lacked the standing for a civil suit, but the judges criticized the city police, prosecutors, the medical examiner’s office and pathologists Marlon Osbourne and Sam Gulino for blunders made in their investigation, Fox News reports.

“The facts surrounding this matter are extremely disturbing and the parents’ tireless efforts over the past 12 years to learn exactly what happened to their daughter on the evening of January 26, 2011, warrant our sincere sympathy,” Judge Ellen Ceisler wrote.

Keep reading

Fired Philadelphia cop Mark Dial is charged with murder for shooting Eddie Irizarry dead FIVE SECONDS after pulling him over for ‘driving erratically’ – as police release horrific bodycam footage

Former Philadelphia police officer Mark Dial has been charged with murder for killing a 27-year-old driver last month after surveillance footage showed him shooting him through his car window.

Mark Dial fatally shot motorist Eddie Irizarry through his car window in North Philadelphia on August 14 – just five seconds after he got out of his patrol car. 

Police have now also released bodycam footage of the incident, previously seen through surveillance video from a nearby home collected by the alleged victim’s family. 

Dial, who was fired a week later, has now been charged with murder, voluntary manslaughter, aggravated assault, simple assault, reckless endangering and official oppression, the DA announced. 

He turned himself in to the police South Detectives division on Friday, with his lawyer claiming Dial believed he was in danger when he fired.

Bodycam footage shows Dial and his partner pull up next to Irizarry’s parked car before Dial exits his cruiser and begins shouting and the alleged victim. Seconds later he starts firing at Irizarry inside his car. 

Dial’s partner is then heard saying, ‘Mark, hold on. Mark, stop,’ before instructing him to move the police cruiser. 

The cops then pull Irizarry’s body out of his car and load him into the backseat of a cruiser, with Dial then driving to a hospital.  

District Attorney Larry Krasner said the footage is ‘hard to watch, and Irizarry’s family chose to watch it. 

‘There is always some level of trauma, especially for family members associated with watching something that is extremely violent… Regardless of the warnings, they wanted to see it, which we all understand, and we saw it.’

Police originally claimed Irizarry was ‘driving erratically’ before getting out of his car with a knife and lunging at officers. 

But Shaka Johnson, the lawyer representing Irizarry’s family, released surveillance footage from a nearby home to counter the police narrative at a press conference on August 23.

In the surveillance video, taken almost opposite the scene, Dial is heard yelling ‘I will f***ing shoot you,’ at Irizarry before opening fire at near point blank range through the driver’s side window.

He is then seen firing again through the windshield as he ran backward and circled around the car.

Keep reading

Philadelphia Considers Zoning Restrictions on Still-Illegal Recreational Pot Shops

Recreational marijuana isn’t legal yet in Pennsylvania. That hasn’t stopped Philadelphia politicians from trying to future-proof their zoning ordinances to block recreational sales.

Philadelphia Councilmembers Brian O’Neill and Curtis Jones have proposed amendments to the city’s zoning code that would preemptively prohibit existing medical marijuana businesses in two overlay districts they represent from participating in recreational sales.

The prohibition would affect five existing medical marijuana stores, according to The Philadelphia Inquirer, which reported on the zoning amendments earlier today.

The immediate practical impacts of the amendments are minimal, given that recreational marijuana is still illegal in Pennsylvania. State lawmakers are nevertheless working on various proposals for legalizing recreational sales. Gov. Josh Shapiro, a Democrat, has endorsed legalizing (and heavily taxing) recreational sales.

Industry advocates say this will unfairly penalize existing medical marijuana businesses when recreational sales are eventually legalized, all because they opened up in the wrong part of town.

“If you set up a system where four or five stores can’t sell adult use and then 16 can, people are going to go to the ones” that can sell to recreational customers, says Jamie Ware, president of the Pennsylvania Cannabis Coalition (a trade association).

Ware is also a senior vice president with Holistic Industries which operates one of the Philadelphia dispensaries that would be affected by O’Neill and Jones’ zoning amendment.

Existing businesses, she notes, are locked into longer-term commercial leases, so they can’t easily move to avoid the restrictions. If the current medical system is any guide to how future recreational businesses will be regulated, transferring a license to a new location would require state approval and could take years.

O’Neill did not immediately respond to Reason‘s request for comment. Jones told the Inquirer that while medical sales haven’t created problems, recreational sales will bring a less desirable crowd, necessitating the restrictions.

Keep reading

FBI Agent Accused of Shooting Dog After Altercation With Owner

According to Philadelphia Police, Jacqueline Maguire, who has been head of the Philadelphia FBI Field Office since 2021, shot another women’s dog outside the Touraine luxury apartment building in Philadelphia earlier this month.

Philadelphia Deputy Police Commissioner Frank Vanore said, “When she [Jacqueline Maguire]tried to get her dog back, I think the dog attacked her.” Police say Jacqeline Maguire shot the dog shortly after. However, witnesses to the incident have taken to Instagram and Twitter to tell a different story.

One witness to the incident wrote on Instagram, “I saw the whole thing. I saw the lady pulled out the gun yelling at the owner, ‘I just shot your dog because your dog was trying to kill my dog’ I was walking my dog right across the street I did not hear any dog fighting or growing.”

Federal Whistleblower Kyle Seraphin wrote on Twitter, “Had an @fbi employee from the @FBIPhiladelphia office share this from Instagram. There is no love for this executive manager Special Agent in Charge. This excited utterance about the reason for shooting the dog is admissible and indicates a complete violation of DOJ Deadly Force Policy.”

Keep reading

Philadelphia gas station owner hires heavily armed guards to protect business: ‘We are tired of this nonsense’

A Philadelphia gas station owner fed up with incessant crime threatening his employees and customers hired heavily armed security guards to watch over his business. 

Neil Patel, operator of a Karco gas station at Broad and Clearfield streets in North Philadelphia, recruited Pennsylvania S.I.T.E Agents clad with Kevlar vest and AR-15s or shotguns. 

“They are forcing us to hire the security, high-level security, state level,” Patel told FOX 29. “We are tired of this nonsense; robbery, drug trafficking, hanging around, gangs.” 

Keep reading

Former Congressman Sentenced to Prison for Stuffing Pennsylvania Ballot Boxes

Despite declarations of safe and secure elections, history shows that past Pennsylvania elections were host to corruption.

For example, former U.S. Rep. Michael “Ozzie” Myers, a Pennsylvania Democrat, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to deprive voters of civil rights, bribery, obstruction of justice, falsification of voting records, conspiring to illegally vote in a federal election, and orchestrating schemes to fraudulently stuff ballot boxes for specific Democrat candidates in Pennsylvania elections held from 2014 to 2018.

Myers was sentenced Tuesday by U.S. District Judge Paul S. Diamond to 30 months in prison, three years supervised release, and ordered to pay $100,000 in fines, with $10,000 of that due immediately, according to a statement from U.S. Attorney Jacqueline C. Romero.

Directly after Tuesday’s Philadelphia hearing, Myers, 79, was taken into custody.

Myers served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1979 until 1980 when he was caught taking bribes in an FBI sting operation. That was part of an old, completed investigation.

Tuesday’s sentencing was a new matter in which Myers admitted that he bribed Domenick J. Demuro, a Democrat Judge of Elections for the 39th Ward, 36th Division in South Philadelphia, over several years to add votes for certain Democrat candidates.

Some candidates’ campaigns had hired Myers, and others were candidates that he favored. He admitted that he was paid consulting fees in cash or checks, then used portions of these funds to pay election officials to tamper with election results.

This included judicial seats and various federal, state, and local offices.

Myers also admitted to conspiring to commit election fraud with another former Judge of Elections, Democrat Marie Beren, in the 39th Ward, 2nd Division in South Philadelphia.

Keep reading