Laughing out loud! Philadelphia District Attorney won’t even prosecute people for illegal firearms possession, yet business owners expect the city to enforce “anti-nuisance laws”?

Rudy Giuliani was unavailable for comment.

Business owners say weak enforcement is emboldening the violence on Philly’s South Street

Several South Street business owners cited a climate of “lawlessness” in the city. The lack of enforcement is creating a climate of impunity that climaxes in lethal force.

by Joseph N DiStephano | Tuesday, June 7, 2022

Ron Dangler served two tours in Iraq — where he was “a door-kicker,” a cavalry scout at the front of a dangerous patrol in Ramadi in 2005 and 2006.

So it wasn’t the first time the Philadelphia native who owns Dobbs, the rock club at 304 South St., had heard gunfire, when shooters blasted each other and a crowd of people in the street on Saturday night, leaving three dead and 11 wounded.

Helping tend victims, Dangler was impressed with how fast Philadelphia police in their SUVs “scooped” up the wounded, taking them to hospitals, and securing the scene.

But the episode quickly affected his business. At Dobbs, bands from two record labels that were supposed to come on after midnight had to be canceled.

At a certain point, it’s a bit difficult to sympathize with businesses and their owners who make their livings off of hard partying when the party hearty crows gets too rowdy.

On Sunday evening, authorities closed the street to pedestrians, so the expected crowds from the PHL Pride Festival failed to materialize. The record label owners “asked me if this is South Street all the time. ‘This is not the people that come to our bars and restaurants,’ I said to them. ‘These are young kids who have nothing to do, and it’s summer, and they want freedom to do what they want, with no repercussions.’”

The Tacony native, a Drexel University graduate, said the city doesn’t generally feel more dangerous than 20 years ago, when he and his friends toured live-music venues from the original J.C. Dobbs club whose site his bar occupies to the North Star Bar in Fairmount.

One obvious point: these businesses are bars, which means that their clientele must be 21-years-old or over. Yet, as we noted yesterday, of the 11 wounded, only two were of legal drinking age.

There’s a lot more at the original, noting some of the ‘nuisance’ crimes, including things that damage private property — people jumping up on cars and dancing, something which can damage roofs, hoods and trunk lids — never resulted in arrests.

The shooting is not just “a gun-control problem,” agreed Chris McNichol, owner of Woolly Mammoth, a sports bar at 430 South, who posted on Instagram. It “must be viewed as one of far too many acts of lawlessness, criminal behavior and violence on the street and in the city.” In five hours, 237 people “liked” the post, many forwarded it, and no one complained, McNichol said.

“The complete lack of law and order on South Street and in too many neighborhoods” is the deeper cause, to McNichol. “Protect your citizens by creating AND ENFORCING laws,” he added, with emphasis. “Arrest individuals who commit crimes” and “keep dangerous individuals from committing repeat crimes. … Allow police to do their job” so Philadelphians can “enjoy their city without endless fear, and businesses can prosper, not to crumble under the weight of fear.”

No, it’s not a gun control problem.

Two men will be charged in the South Street mass shooting, the Philly DA’s Office said

One of the suspects is an 18-year-old accused of firing a ghost gun toward a crowd. The other is a man who participated in a brawl that may have sparked the hail of bullets.

by Chris Palmer, Ellie Rushing, and Max Marin | Monday, June 6, 2022

Two men have been taken into custody in connection with the mass shooting on South Street in Philadelphia, including an 18-year-old who prosecutors say fired a homemade “ghost” gun into a crowd Saturday night and was one of at least four gunmen in a melee that left three people dead and 11 wounded.

Prosecutors say that man, Quran Garner, ran off after being shot by police on South Street on Saturday. He approached other officers a few blocks away, crying out, ”They shot my hand off,” before being taken to the hospital. He is now expected to face charges of attempted murder, aggravated assault, and related offenses.

Mr Garner was carrying an illegal, homemade firearm, with an extended magazine, and had no license to carry. Perhaps someone can explain to me how gun control laws would have stopped Mr Garner from having that weapon. The police officer who shot Mr Garner protected the people of Philadelphia, and deserves a commendation. And yes, I do hope that the injury to Mr Garner’s hand, presumably his dominant hand, is permanently disabling.

Law enforcement sources said police Monday night arrested a second man, Rashaan Vereen, who they say took part in a brawl that sparked the entire violent episode. Prosecutors said Vereen, arrested in South Philadelphia, went to the aid of a gunman who was shot to death by another man in an exchange of gunfire Saturday night.

They said Vereen had spirited the gun away from his dying companion, and then melted into the South Street throng. He is expected to face similar charges to those Garner faces.

From 6ABC News:

Surveillance video obtained by ABC News and 6abc shows what unfolded at about 11:30 p.m. Saturday on South Street.

In the video, Jackson and Townes are seen exchanging words. Then Jackson pulls a gun.

The video shows Jackson and Vereen beating Townes. Then there’s a gunfire exchange. Both Townes and Jackson are hit.

“Gregory Jackson shoots at Mika Townes first. Mika Townes returns fire, killing and shooting Gregory Jackson,” Pescatore said.

As it happens, Messrs Jackson and Townes both have concealed carry permits, so neither could have had a prior criminal record. Given that both men were willing to pull out guns in a street fight, one has to wonder: did they both have clean criminal records because they simply hadn’t gotten caught before, or because the District Attorney’s office refused to prosecute them for things for which they had been previously apprehended?

Mr Townes was in serious condition at the time of the report.

As Mayor of New York City, Rudy Giuliani cleaned up what had been a fetid and festering sewer. It was the summer of 2008, when my younger daughter and I took an architecture trip to NYC. Intending to visit the Cathedral of St John the Divine in Morningside Heights, we missed our subway stop, and had to get off at 125^th Street.

That’s Harlem.

So my daughter, the whitest white girl in town, and I walked down to 113^th Street. The streets were clean and safe; that’s what Mr Giuliani had accomplished, by his “broken windows” policing and enforcement of the law.

Mr Krasner and Mayor Jim Kenney don’t believe in broken windows policing. They don’t want a system in which the ‘entry level’ offenses are targeted and enforced, because that would lead to too many young men having criminal records. No, they want to let that stuff slide, until the young men who could have been deterred, could have been stopped early, or could have been locked up, are out on the streets blasting away.