PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — The suspect accused of randomly killing five people and injuring four others in Kingsessing Monday night has been arraigned on dozens of charges.
Kimbrady Carriker faced the court Wednesday morning through video conference, arms crossed and stoic as the prosecutor read through the names of the five dead.
Carriker is accused of killing 31-year-old Joseph Wamah, Jr., whose body was found hours later inside a home, and then gunning down four others: Da'Juan Brown, 15; Lashyd Merritt, 20, Dymir Stanton, 29; and Ralph Moralis, 59.
All of them were shot multiple times.
Before he surrendered to police, authorities say, Carriker had also shot a 13-year-old boy and 2-year-old boy. And the 2-year-old’s twin and their 33-year-old mother were injured by shattered glass when, police say, Carriker shot into their car. The boys’ 10-year-old sister was also in the car, but she was unharmed.
Carriker now faces dozens of charges including five counts of murder, attempted murder, aggravated assault and weapons counts of possession without a license and carrying firearms in public, prosecutors said.
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Around 8:30 p.m. Monday, police said, Carriker — wearing a ski mask and a bulletproof vest — was armed with an AR-15 assault rifle and a 9mm handgun and opened fire, shooting aimlessly at occupied cars and people walking on the street, according to Philadelphia Police Staff Inspector Ernest Ransom.
Police say said Carriker also had several magazines of ammunition and a police scanner.
“None of the victims engaged the suspect or were aware the suspect was going to inflict this act of violence upon them,” said Ransom. Based on the evidence, police believe Carriker carried out the shootings “knowingly and intentionally.”
Another man was taken into custody Monday night, but he won’t be charged, say authorities.
“That individual lost — his brother was one of the decedents. That individual had a gun on him that was legally owned and possessed. And when his brother was shot — and he saw his brother was shot — that individual fired seven shots in the direction of the defendant,” Bob Wainwright, the assistant district attorney handling the case, said Wednesday.
A representative of the Defender Association of Philadelphia said he believed the office would be representing Carriker and declined immediate comment on the charges. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for later this month but will likely be delayed as the prosecution and the defense investigate.
In Pennsylvania, there is no bail set for murder, so the defendant will remain behind bars.
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Neighborhood reeling
At a news conference Wednesday, just a few blocks from where the shootings took place, authorities shared some details about the investigation. District Attorney Larry Krasner said the streets in the neighborhood were silent Wednesday. He described a child's bike he saw on the ground, untouched since the shootings.
Zaffer Qasim, an emergency physician at Penn Presbyterian Medical Center, where many of the victims were taken Monday night for treatment, declined to discuss individual victims or their treatment but noted the "degree of injury from the style of weapon that was used ... and the amount of damage."
Bullets don't care who you are, he said. “And it's not just the victims, but it spreads to the families in the family rooms and to the community.”
"I said before we started that bullets don't care who you are. And it's not just the victims, but it spreads to the families in the family rooms and to the community," he said. "As the district attorney noted, the streets are now empty because people are scared to go out in the streets."
Much of the community is still trying to make sense of it all. Fatima, who lives at the corner of 56th Street and Springfield Avenue, said she has never seen such violence before. She and other neighbors said the hardest part was stepping outside the next day.
But Darryl, who lives two doors down, believes resilience takes hold in these instances.
“Keep your head up,” he reassured. “That’s all I can tell you, baby. Keep your head up.”
The neighbors preferred not to use their last names.
Like many of her neighbors, Fatima was enjoying what was originally a quiet Monday night on her porch with friends. The streets were full. Children were playing outside on the pavement.
Then, gunfire.
“We were right here,” she said. “We hear the neighbors start to scream. … Shots started to fly and we just had to run.”
They dove inside and locked the door. Fatima said waiting for the gunfire to end felt like forever.
“After we hear about 40 shots, it had a pause, and then it started again. It started again,” she recalled.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
CORRECTION: A previous version of this story misspelled Brown's first name.