PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Pennsylvania’s Attorney General has charged three men in connection with what they say are a string of gang-related murders and shootings.
Attorney General Michelle Henry says Chris Byard and Daquan Bishop from the group “6600” were targeting members of a rival gang called “Greatah” in Northeast and Northwest Philadelphia neighborhoods from November 2021 to February 2022.
Byard and Bishop are charged with killing 24-year-old Angel Rivera in November 2021 in the city’s Olney section, and then a month later, gunning down 23-year-old Tymir Johnson, along with two other men who survived their injuries.
Byard is also charged with killing 21-year-old Rashaan Frazier in Mayfair in January 2022.
Authorities say Byard and a few other unidentified men were going after a man who drove a car similar to one Frazier drove and fatally shot Frazier, who was not the intended target, and wounded two other men who were with him.
Byard and another man, Daquan Bethea, are also accused of shooting a man 19 times, leaving him paralyzed.
Prosecutors say surveillance video, social media video, cell phone data, and ballistics link the defendants to the shootings.
Henry says Bishop and Byard were recently charged and already in custody on federal firearms charges at the time of their arrest. Bethea was arrested on Saturday. His bail is set at $600,000.
Editor’s update, Oct. 10, 2024:
Daquan Bethea pleaded guilty to attempted murder, conspiracy and gun charges on Oct. 8 as part of a plea agreement with prosecutors. They told the court it was determined Bethea fired one of the 19 shots the victim endured. His defense attorney argued he was not one the planners or organizers but essentially drove the other two shooters to the scene. As part of the deal, Bethea was sentenced to five to 15 years behind bars.