PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — A Bucks County judge will issue his verdict Monday morning in the murder bench trial of a 30-year-old charged in a shooting that prosecutors say is part of ongoing violence between two Bristol Township neighborhoods.
Kelvontae Perry is charged with first-degree murder in the shooting of 21-year-old Shaquille Love, who was found shot in the head in the driver’s seat of his car on Edgely Road on Dec. 23, 2020.
Prosecutor Kristin McElroy said Love was “a good kid who didn’t run the streets.” He was described during the trial as someone who steered clear of the ongoing and violent fight between the Winder Village and Bloomsdale neighborhoods in Bristol.
The passenger in Love’s car, Andre Bryant, believed the bullet was meant for him.
Authorities say Bryant is rumored to have urinated on a memorial for two people who were shot and killed in Winder Village during a prom photo shoot in 2018.
Perry’s car is seen in surveillance video tailing Love’s car for about eight minutes before the shooting.
But Perry’s lawyer Keith Williams argues prosecutors failed to show any planning or premeditation from Perry. Willaims says prosecutors believe the passenger in Perry’s car fired the shot, and there’s no evidence Perry knew he was going to fire.
But Mcelroy says, if not for Perry’s actions that night — tailing the car, then slowing down for the shot — Love would still be alive.