Police are reporting that an arrest has been made in the late-morning murder of 39-year-old Yvette Saunders, a mother of six who was shot in the chest outside her home near 52nd and Kingsessing on the day before Mother’s Day.

The Philadelphia Inquirer has a short, heart-wrenching story about the shooting. The Inquirer‘s Mike Newall reports that Saunders was shot outside her home on the 5200 block of Reinhard Street trying to protect her 18-year-old son, the intended target of the alleged gunman.

Newall reports that Isaac Porterfield, 22, of the 500 block of North Vodges Street, has been charged in the killing. Police say Porterfield turned himself in.

The shooting was a result of a dispute between Porterfield and Saunders’ son, who accused a friend of Porterfield’s of beating up his girlfriend.

Saunders’ son was not hit in the shooting.

A 39-year-old mother, apparently a bystander, was shot and killed Saturday morning as she sat on her front porch in the 5200 block of Reinhard St. following an argument between two groups of girls.

Police say Yvette Saunders was sitting on the steps of her porch at 5220 Reinhard St. when a silver four-door vehicle pulled up at about 11:49 a.m. A man emerged and began fire shots. A single bullet struck Saunders in the chest and she later died, police said.

Witnesses told police that the shooting occurred after an altercation between two groups of girls on the same block. Police say Saunders was the mother of an unidentified boy who knew one of the groups of girls involved. Police don’t believe the woman was involved in the original altercation.

Police have questioned several people in conjunction with the shooting. No arrests have been made.

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Police are searching for three men involved in a shooting at 48th and Kingsessing last night that left two victims in critical condition with multiple gunshot wounds.

Police say the shooting took place after a red coupe-style vehicle – possibly a Mustang or Toyota – approached two men standing on the northwest corner of 48th and Kingsessing at about 10:45 p.m. The driver exited the car and began arguing with the two men. Two passengers then emerged from the vehicle and opened fire, according to police.

One victim, a 25-year-old male, was shot multiple times in the lower back and was listed in critical condition at The Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania (HUP). A second victim, an unidentified male, was shot three times in the lower abdomen and once in the leg. He is also listed in critical condition at HUP.

Police spokeswoman Christine O’Brien said the driver was a black male, mid 30s to early 40s, approximately 6-foot-1 and wearing a white t-shirt with a yellow triangle on the upper left. The other two suspects were described as black males, mid 20s, wearing black t-shirts with white t-shirts underneath and dark pants.

The vehicle fled westbound on Kingsessing following the shooting.

 

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When a handful of West Philly residents sat down for a chat with a local police officer at the Calvary Center recently, little did they know that their tip would lead to an undercover operation that caught an alleged neighborhood package thief red handed.

A resident who lives near 45th and Regent told Lt. Brian McBride during a routine monthly meeting last Thursday that he found a package addressed to his wife that they had never received at a local thrift store. The next day McBride deployed plainclothes officers to the area. They arrested a man near 43rd and Larchwood after observing him remove packages from two doorsteps.

McBride, who works out of the 18th Police District’s University City Division, would not comment on the details of the operation.

McBride meets with residents every third Thursday of the month at the Calvary Center.

The resident who originally reported finding a package at a thrift store stressed that it was not The Second Mile.

Police are still searching for the person who shot a 25-year-old man  near the corner of 51st and Irving (see map below) Monday night. Police were called to the scene at about 9 p.m. to find Leon McMillan, 27, shot twice in the chest. He later died at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. McMillan lived a block away onn the 5100 block of Locust

The fatal shooting is the second in two days in West Philadelphia. Eighteen-year-old Jarell Seay was shot on the front porch of his home on the 1300 block of N. 55th Street on Sunday. No arrests have been made in the shooting. The Philadelphia Inquirer published a story yesterday about Seay’s parents’ struggle with their son’s death.

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Community members are invited to discuss crime and neighborhood issue with Lt. Brian McBride from the University City section of the 18th Police District on Thursday.

The meeting will begin at 6 p.m. in the lower level of the Calvary Center at 48th and Baltimore.