PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Authorities have charged a teenager in connection with five shootings, including two murders, in the past month.
Aiden Waters, 16, faces dozens of charges, including murder, attempted murder and aggravated assault, in connection to the shooting death of well-known Philly rapper YBCDul, also known as 25-year-old Abdul Vicks.
Vicks died on Aug. 23 after he was shot in the chest along 6th Street near Tabor Road in Olney.
Law enforcement sources told KYW that Waters was in a rival gang that targeted Vicks. Detectives were able to link a stolen car out of Cheltenham used in the shooting back to Waters.
When they arrested Waters, authorities also served a search warrant on his house and found two guns connected to other shootings in his basement, including one that killed 16-year-old Marquis Saunders and injured another 16-year-old back on Aug. 19.
Saunders was shot in the head and killed on Duncannon Street near Olney High School. His funeral happened on Sep. 6.
Assistant District Attorney Cydney Pope described one of the firearms that linked him to the crimes.
“One of them had a switch on it, which made it fully automatic, and that one had an obliterated serial number on it,” she said. “The gun that matches all these incidents was a stolen firearm.”
The gun was also connected to another earlier double shooting on Senter Street near Rising Sun Avenue that saw a 14-year-old shot in the leg, and a 43-year-old grazed by a bullet.
Detectives are also still investigating. They are looking into whether the double shootings and shooting death of Vicks could be connected to two shootings in March. One happened at a bus stop on Rising Sun Avenue and saw eight teens injured, and the other saw a 17-year-old killed on Ogontz Avenue.
Bill Fritze, supervisor of the District Attorney’s Gun Violence Task Force, said parents need to be involved to get guns out of their kids’ hands.
“Go get those guns off the street,” he said. “We have thousands of guns recovered and we are still seeing children being killed, it’s ridiculous. Go into those homes tonight, get those guns out of the house.”
Both Pope and Fritze said in many cases, these teens don’t even know each other, but create the problems and violence.
“I think a lot of this comes from juveniles’ needs to be famous. It’s almost like a social media influencer,” said Fritze.
Pope called it “clout chasing.”
“You are looking for notoriety, you are looking to make a name for yourself,” she said.
Before his arrest, authorities said Waters had never been in trouble with the law.