14-year-old accused of killing 79-year-old in Chester is in police custody

Chester Police Department headquarters
Photo credit Mike Dougherty/KYW Newsradio

UPDATED: 6:23 p.m.

CHESTER, Pa. (KYW Newsradio) — A 14-year-old boy is in Chester police custody after they say he shot and killed 79-year-old Robert Womack on Wednesday.

According to police, 14-year-old Zhafir Tinsley-Jones turned himself in Friday.

Womack was  driving two teenage passengers, including his grandson, when he was , respectively — he was shot in the head. The 17-year-old was wearing a bulletproof vest for reasons unexplained. 

Police say Tinsley-Jones fired the shot that killed Womack around 5 p.m. near Third Street and Highland Avenue in Chester. Spent shell casings were found on the street at the scene, and another car nearby had bullet holes in it.

After Womack was shot, he continued driving and crashed at a park in Trainer about a half-mile away.

So far, there is no known motive for the shooting. 

Tinsley-Jones is charged with murder, two counts of attempted murder, and other gun-related offenses. 

Prosecutors say he will be charged as an adult.

Chester Mayor Thaddeus Kirkland says the lives of Tinsley-Jones and the Womack family are changed forever due to a single act of violence.  

"These senseless acts of violence have to stop, which means we’re calling on the community and parents to step up to the plate and to have those hard conversations with young people," he said.

A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Feb. 12. Due to the charges, he is not eligible for bail.

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KYW Newsradio's Antionette Lee contributed to this report.