PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Philadelphia homicide detectives now believe the murder of a prominent lawyer from the Phillippines may be connected to another homicide outside a nearby club hours earlier.
John Laylo, 35, was with his mother visiting family in Philadelphia. He was on his way to the airport in an Uber on June 18 when he was fatally shot in West Philadelphia.
Hours earlier, around 1:30 a.m., police say 36-year-old Shaun Davis was shot multiple times throughout the body and head while in a car near 37th Street and Lancaster Avenue, close to the Level 38 Bar and Grill.
“When police arrived out there, there was a large crowd. They were hostile toward police,” said Lt. Dan Brooks, with the city’s Homicide Unit.
Investigators say the Uber driver is linked by location to both homicides.
That driver dropped off a passenger near the bar when Davis was shot. And then at 4 a.m., the same Uber driver picked up Laylo and his mother to take them to the airport — approximately two blocks from the scene of the first homicide.
As Laylo’s ride drove south near 38th and Spruce streets, gunfire erupted. Laylo was shot in the head and later died at the hospital.
“We believe that the shooter was drawn to that vehicle for a specific vehicle for some reason — what that reason is, we are not sure yet,” Brooks said.
The car is a black Nissan Maxima. The Uber driver has no criminal record and is cooperating with police.
Detectives are still reviewing surveillance video and ask anyone with information about either case to call them.
There’s a $20,000 reward in each case — Davis and Laylo — for information leading to an arrest and conviction.
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