UPDATE:A commenter helped clarify this story. A jury found Thomas not guilty of the murder charge on Sept. 13, which explains why he was free. We should have done a little more homework before we speculated on that.
Police say the man fatally shot near 49th and Springfield early Saturday morning was 26-year-old Maki Thomas, who was arrested last year in connection with a 2001 murder.
Thomas, who was connected with home addresses in the Overbrook section and the 4100 block of Cambridge St., reportedly called police on a cell phone at about 1:10 a.m. after he had been shot in the head and neck. Police arrived to find Thomas unconscious at the wheel of a Nissan Maxima, which was still running. He was pronounced dead at 1:23 a.m.
Thomas was arrested in April 2010 in connection with the March 2001 murder of Quentin Armstrong in front of a deli at 52nd and Warrington. Police had been looking for Thomas for years and almost had him in 2009 when he used his real name to check into a Haverford medical facility to reportedly get a gunshot wound treated. He fled before police arrived.
Only one school in the area is slated to close, the Charles R. Drew School near 38th and Powelton, in the school consolidation plan unveiled yesterday by the School Reform Commission.
Beginning next school year students at Drew, which is a K-8 school, will be spread among Samuel Powel Elementary, Martha Washington Elementary, Alaine Locke School and Middle Years Alternative school.
The plan also changes the grade configuration in the 2013-2014 school year at Alexander Wilson School (46th and Woodland), which is currently K-6, to K-5. Sixth grade students will attend Shaw Middle School. Shaw (54th and Warrington) will expand from 7th and 8th grades to include 6th grade as well. Grade changes at Comegys Elementary (51st and Upland) and Harrington Elementary (53rd and Baltimore) to K-5 will also feed Shaw’s new configuration.
Students at two other local elementary schools – Lea Elementary and Penn-Alexander – will experience no changes under the plan, which will eliminate 14,000 empty seats. The School District of Philadelphia has said that it hopes to eliminate some 70,000 empty seats over the next several years.
Under the plan, West Philadelphia High School will be put for sale sometime during the 2012-2013 school year.
The District has scheduled a series of public meetings to discuss the consolidation plan. The fist meeting in West Philadelphia will be held on Wednesday, Dec. 7 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the new West Philadelphia High School.
A mural at the Alexander Wilson School near 46th and Woodland. Wilson is one of the schools that may be affected by the consolidation planned that will be unveiled today.
We will know a lot more about which schools will close or consolidate in West Philadelphia after today’s School Reform Commission (SRC) meeting, which for the first time, will be streamed live online.
The SRC is scheduled to release its tentative master plan to address the estimated 70,000 empty seats in the district. The plan includes a list of schools that will be closed, consolidated or have grade changes. The list will be the subject of a series of community meetings over the next several months.
A leaked preliminary report that recommended that the Alexander Wilson School (1300 S. 46th St.) be closed and students transferred to the Henry C. Lea School (4700 Locust St.) fueled speculation that fairly drastic changes were ahead for schools in our area. The District responded that the leaked report was merely a rough draft that was far from the final recommendations. There was even speculation that the much-debated catchment area for the Penn Alexander School (43rd and Locust) would be redrawn, though that seems unlikely. A much more clear picture of those changes should emerge from today’s meeting.
The SRC meeting begins at 3 p.m. today and the announcement on the proposed changes is scheduled for 5 p.m. For the first time the SRC meeting will be streamed live at the District’s website. The meeting will also be broadcast on its cable channel, which is available to Comcast (Channel 52) and FIOS (Channel 20) subscribers.
If you’re free around lunchtime tomorrow swing by 30th Street Station for the opening of “Philadelphia’s next great public space.” The celebration starts at noon and will also include the unveiling of the new name of the plaza along Market Street adjacent to the station – once a sort of dangerous and confusing mix of pedestrians dashing to make trains, taxis and Market Street traffic. Now it has trees, tables, chairs and sensible traffic patterns, making it a fitting introduction to our fair ‘burg for commuters and tourists alike.
Tomorrow’s opening ceremony will include street performances, refreshments and live music.
So another Halloween has come and gone in West Philly. We have a photo slideshow and video below from the parade and we will be announcing the winners of our Pumpkin Carving Contest a little later today. We hope everyone had an awesome and safe Halloween.
UPDATE: Police say that the two men connected with the incident below have been charged with robbery, aggravated assault and weapons charges. They have also been charged in connection with another robbery on Oct. 25 in the 5600 Springfield Ave. In that case, police say the 18-year-old, whom they identified as Tory Winchester of the 5600 block of Springfield Ave., and three other men, including the unidentified 17-year-old below, broke into an apartment at about 12:30 a.m. Three males in their 20s were in the apartment and awoke to find the four men each pointing handguns at them. The four suspects ordered the men to walk down the stairs to the apartment’s living room and asked about narcotics and money, police said. One victim was punched and another was pistol whipped, police said. The four suspects escaped with a cell phone and a transpass.
Two men are in police custody after their brazen plot to rob three residents in an apartment at 4725 Chester Ave. last night fell apart.
Police say a 17-year-old man armed with a handgun burst into the apartment at about 10:30 p.m. and demanded that the three people inside – two women and a man – hand over cash and other belongings. The man then called two accomplices on a mobile phone and told them he would let them into the building. Police said he then marched the three victims at gunpoint down the building’s stairs to the main entrance to meet two accomplices. When they arrived at the door the victims fled outside and found police.
The 17-year-old and an 18-year-old accomplice were apprehended. A third suspect is still at large. Police were searching the area last night in patrol cars and from a helicopter.
There were no injuries. The male victim, who resided in the apartment, is 19. The females are 24 and 29 years of age.
The charges against the two men in custody will be forthcoming, police said.
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