PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Questions have been raised about how one of the suspects in the killing of a 25-year-old Temple grad in Brewerytown could have been on the streets of Philadelphia, prompting a second investigation.
Milan Loncar was shot in the chest last week as he was walking his dog near 30th and Jefferson streets. Clear surveillance video shows two men approached him and tried to rob him.
“Mr. Loncar took a step backwards and attempted to push the defendant’s firearm away from him. It was at this time, the offender is observed firing one time, at Mr. Loncar, striking him one time in the upper chest area,” said Homicide Capt. Jason Smith at a press conference Tuesday.
Philadelphia detectives pushed out the video and quickly received tips from the public.
“We received at least six good quality tips, but in most cases, we don’t receive any tips,” said Smith.
Shortly after the shooting, the police highway patrol picked up 20-year-old Josephus Davis at B Street and Indiana Avenue in Harrowgate for driving a stolen car from 27th and Howard streets, Smith said. The car was stolen a day before.
Other men were in that car but they were not charged.
Authorities won’t go into detail about specifically why Davis was charged, only applauding the public for help they rarely get. But the 20-year-old suspect had a lengthy criminal record, which has prompted questions as to why he was out on the streets.
According to court records, Davis was convicted of assault charges as a teen and had two robbery convictions as an adult, plus two years of probation.
He was charged with allegedly kidnapping, robbing and carjacking an Uber driver with a gun in July 2019.
According to a police report, obtained by KYW Newsradio, an Uber driver told police he stopped on the way to a pick up to urinate near 24th Street and Allegheny Avenue and left his silver 2012 Prius running.
He said that’s when two males came up to him, one with a gun, and took his phone and demanded he get in the car.
The pair of suspects drove the Uber driver around for a bit, telling other people they had him and his car as a joke.
Eventually, the pair dropped the driver at 27th and Toronto streets, he said, where the driver tracked down police, who then began to investigate. Eventually, detectives tracked Davis through social media posts and phone records, and he was arrested in February 2020 and charged with about a dozen charges including robbery to inflict serious bodily injury, kidnapping for ransom, conspiracy and gun charges.
Davis was in jail awaiting his preliminary hearing when he was accused of squirting something into the face of a guard serving him food through a cell hole.
The guard said Davis allegedly told him he would “smoke” the man when he got out. Davis was then charged with aggravated assault, terroristic threats and related offenses.
In October, Judge Charles Hayden lowered bail in that case from $200,000 to $12,000 after a conversation about whether the fluid was juice or bodily fluids.
In the Uber carjacking case, Judge Teresa Carr Deni lowered his bail from 10% of $200,000 to 10% of $20,000. Two different people posted bail for Davis just six days later.
“I am sure this will be looked into thoroughly,” said Joanne Pescatore, homicide assistant supervisor for the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office. “The DA (Larry Krasner) has been looking into it all weekend long and I am sure that many balls were dropped in this case, and that will be looked at. And unfortunately we do see this in a lot of cases, and it is unfortunate for the citizens of Philadelphia but that’s what we deal with.”
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While many point to the prosecutors, they have asked why a detainer — or essentially a mechanism to keep someone in jail — was not requested by the probation officer on Davis’ case.
KYW Newsradio has reached out to the probation office and is waiting to hear back.
Bail can be argued to be increased, revoked or altered at any time by prosecutors. A spokesman for the courts pointed out there was no filing for an appeal in court documents.
In the meantime, there is a second person of interest in the case, but police will not release his name or age and say they are continuing to investigate.
“The detectives in this case did a phenomenal job, as they always do,” said Pescatore. “Highway patrol stopping that car and getting this male off the street, so that’s the main thing that we all should be happy about — that he is actually off the street and being held without bail now.”