PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — The man accused of killing a beloved South Philly grandmother on Christmas Eve nearly eight years ago has admitted to pulling the trigger after two trials and an appeal.
In a negotiated deal, 37-year-old Maurice Green pleaded guilty to 3rd-degree murder and gun charges in the 2016 shooting death of 81-year-old Marie Buck inside her shop at South 6th and Titan streets.
Prosecutors say Green was a drug dealer for Buck’s grandson, who had sold one of Green’s necklaces at a pawn shop for drugs. That Christmas Eve morning, he was seeking revenge for the stolen chain and went looking for the grandson but encountered Buck instead and fatally shot her nearly a dozen times.
Green repeatedly apologized to Buck’s family, telling them he would give anything to take back what he did.
He says he feels remorse and thinks about the shooting every day, noting he went to her shop when he was a kid to get sandwiches.
“Just knowing who she was and what she was to everyone … Why would you do that? Why would you just walk in there and do that? That’s just horrific and that’s just someone with no value for life,” said Buck’s daughter.
Green was sentenced to 20 to 50 years in prison.