PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Police on Thursday released new details about the shooting deaths of a man and woman in Fairmount Park two weeks ago, including a timeline of the moments leading up to their murder. Detectives now say the victims knew the two suspects, both of whom are in custody.
On Feb. 29, just before 11 p.m., officers responding to a 911 call arrived to find medical personnel on the side of Mount Pleasant Drive near Reservoir Drive attending to two victims with gunshot wounds. The bodies of Thurston Cooper, 49, and Krystina Chambers, 38, had been found lying next to each other on the side of the road.
Chief Inspector Christopher Werner said Lamar Young, 52, is accused of fatally shooting Cooper and Chambers. Young surrendered to police on March 1. He is charged with two counts of murder, firearms violations, criminal conspiracy, and related offenses.
For her alleged role in the killings, Dale Johnson, 56, is also charged with murder, as well as possessing an instrument of crime and criminal conspiracy. According to police, Johnson had a permit to carry a gun. She turned herself in on Wednesday morning.
Werner says the events that led to the murders started at Tellup’s Tavern in Olney, where the four were involved in an argument.
“We believe there was some type of disturbance that was resolved. We believe they were possibly even purchasing drinks for one another after that disturbance,” Werner said.
Werner says Cooper and Chambers knew Johnson and Young from the bar and may have known them prior to that night.
“We're not certain what the interaction was, but we definitely determined they had contact with one another and they were speaking with one another in the bar,” Werner said. “Sometime after that interaction, they decided to leave the bar together. There was no coercion in taking both victims to the car.”
Around 9:40 p.m., they willingly left with the couple in Johnson’s Kia Sportage.
Around 10:03 p.m., police say, they have video evidence of the car on the 1300 block of Mount Pleasant Drive in Fairmount Park.
Then at 10:58 p.m., police received a 911 call from a passer-by who came across the bodies of Cooper and Chambers.
Police are now piecing together the details of what may have happened in the 20 minutes between the time the group left the bar and the time police say Young killed Cooper with a single shot to his head, and Chambers with one shot to her head and another to her chest, Fairmount Park.
Werner says, they don’t have video of the shooting itself — “but we do have their vehicle on location for a very short period of time, maybe five to 10 minutes.”
Werner said he doesn’t think Cooper or Chambers had any idea what was going to happen.
“They were right off the road … almost as if they were led or asked to step out of the car and then immediately executed,” Werner said.
“I think there was contact between Cooper and Johnson that Young was not happy about, and that that was somewhat resolved — or it was believed that was resolved — at the bar, and obviously it wasn't.”