Police are asking for the public’s assistance in locating two teenage girls who recently went missing in the area.

Lajaida Beverley

Lajaida Beverly, 15, was last seen on Thursday, April 9, at her residence on the 5800 block of Cedar Avenue. Lajaida is  5 feet 7 inches, 120 pounds, with brown eyes and black hair. She was last seen wearing a black/gray leather jacket, black pants with leather front and white sneakers. She may have run away with other female juveniles, according to police.

Jannat Williams is also 15, and she is from the 5700 block of Delancey Street. She was last seen at school (Freire Charter, 2027 Chestnut Street), on Thursday, April 9, at approximately 4:30 p.m. Jannat is 5 feet 2 inches, 120 pounds, and has green eyes and brown hair. She was last seen wearing a gray shirt with white block writing, black jeans, a black hooded jacket, and multi-colored Muslim garb.

Anyone with information about the whereabouts of these persons is asked to contact Southwest Detective Division at 215-686-3183/3184 or call 911.

Jannat Williams (Photos from Philly Police Blog)

Alumni from the Yale Russian Chorus, a storied all-male singing group that specializes in Russian and Slavic songs, will perform at St. Mary’s Episcopal Church (3916 Locust Walk) on the Penn campus on Saturday, April 18.

A small group of students studying Russian at Yale started the chorus in the 1950s, during the early days of the Cold War when more Americans were trying to understand the culture and people of the then Soviet Union. The group took its first of many trips to Russia in 1958 where members performed impromptu concerts on Moscow street corners. They were soon dubbed “Yale’s singing ambassadors.”

Under the musical direction of co-conductors Brock Holmes and Bruce Lieberman, Saturday’s concert will be a rare opportunity to enjoy seldom-performed Russian and Eastern European musical masterpieces for male-voice choir. “Expect powerful music, thrilling solos, exceptional ensembles, and top-notch musicianship,” according to a press release from the chorus.

The chorus sings folk and religious music in Russian, other Slavic and East European languages, and occasionally in English. Its repertoire includes works by Kastalsky, Rachmaninoff, and Tchaikovsky.  Continue Reading

Portraits by West Philly photographer JJ Tiziou are featured in a campaign against anti-Muslim ads appearing on buses around the city.

West Philly photographer JJ Tiziou is helping push back against the anti-Muslim ads posted around the city by providing portraits that showcase Philadelphia’s diversity.

Tiziou, who became known citywide with his amazing How Philly Moves murals, has been photographing Muslims in Philadelphia as part of the Dare to Understand initiative, a collective community response to anti-Muslim ads posted on buses around the paid for by a New Hampshire based organization.

The response includes a digital billboard on the Schuylkill Expressway featuring portraits by Tiziou that will run through April 12. The Interfaith Center of Greater Philadelphia, which fought the posting of the anti-Muslim ads through the courts, has launched a fundraising campaign to bolster the response.

“Our message has been clear: Not here. Not now. Not in our city,” a statement by the group reads.

Tiziou’s billboard photographs are part of his Everyone is Photogenic project, which he has revived as part of the Dare to Understand campaign. Learn more here.

The campaign is in response to ads on some 84 SEPTA buses sponsored by the American Freedom Defense Initiative. They feature the slogan “Islamic Jew Hatred: It’s in the Quran.” A federal court earlier this month ordered SEPTA to post the ads on free speech grounds. The ads will run for a month.

– Mike Lyons

Mary Pitts-Devine (from Linked In)

Mary Pitts-Devine, a 46-year-old West Philadelphia woman, is beating the odds. She was shot eight times by her male neighbor earlier this month. The shooting happened on March 8 at a three-story twin home near 46th and Spruce Streets, where Pitts-Devine and her attacker, 53-year-old Steven Outlaw, lived.

Since the shooting, Pitts-Devine – a LaSalle grad, entrepreneur, social worker and cancer survivor –  has undergone several surgeries and will need many more. To offset the gigantic medical costs, her family started a fund in her name on GoFundMe.com.

Here’s what her brother, Eric Christopher, wrote on GoFundMe:

Mary Pitts-Devine with her brother Eric Christopher (from GoFundMe.com)

“Words can’t describe how I feel about my amazing sister Mary R Pitts. On Sunday, March 8, this wonderful woman of God was on her way to church when she was shot by a deranged gunman over 10 times! Eight bullets wounded her body. Two bullets struck her in the head one in the brain and one through the eye… Since March 8, Mary has gone through several operations to restore her body. She is making remarkable progress. Her road to recovery will be tedious and will include more extensive surgeries, substantial physical therapy, and professional counseling.”

Everyone who wants to contribute to the Mary R. Pitts-Devine fund and stay updated on the progress of her recovery, visit: www.gofundme.com/pg3s58

Mary Pitts-Devine. From Linked In.

The 46-year-old woman who was shot eight times Sunday morning by a neighbor who then shot himself remains in “very critical condition” at Penn Presbyterian Medical Center, according to police.

Police say that Mary Pitts-Devine had an ongoing dispute with her male neighbor, identified in media reports as 53-year-old Steven Outlaw. They lived in separate apartments at 4530 Spruce Street in a three-story converted twin. Outlaw reportedly lived above Pitts-Devine, an entrepreneur, writer and former social worker.

The dispute culminated in Sunday’s shooting. Police recovered a handgun in Outlaw’s apartment that was registered to him.

Pitts-Devine, a 1997 graduate of LaSalle University, is the CEO and Founder of Prophetic Presentations, an artistic production company that is “speaking to the hearts of mankind via the arts,” according to its website. On the site, she writes that she has “a desire to help those trapped in the social ills of life, such as drug addiction, homelessness, disparity of all kinds, and severe family dysfunction. This burden stemmed from my brokenness I experienced as a child growing up in Foster Care.” On social media platforms, she writes that she is a breast cancer survivor and a kidney transplant recipient.

Neighbors have said that the dispute between her and Outlaw had been ongoing for about two years and that he had accused her of tapping his telephone line.

Our thoughts and prayers go out to the friends and family of Ms. Pitts-Devine. We’ll update with new information when we get it.

– Mike Lyons

A tribute to Robert Wilson III painted by a fellow officer of the 18th Police District.

Most of you have probably heard the tragic news about the murder of Philadelphia police officer Robert Wilson III during an attempted robbery last week. Wilson, a 30-year-old father of two boys aged 9 and 1, who served in the 22nd Police District in North Philadelphia, was a long-time West Philadelphia resident, and his sister and grandmother also live here, according to various media reports.

Wilson lived in a rowhouse near 55th and Locust. A West Philadelphia High School graduate, he walked his dog in the neighborhood and neighbors often saw him tinkering with his motorcycle, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported. Neighbors also admired how he raised his boys, who stayed with him on weekends and holidays.

Wilson died in a shoot-out with two gunmen inside a GameStop in North Philly. Police arrested and charged two brothers, 30-year-old Carlton Hipps and 26-year-old Ramone Williams, in connection with the shooting and Wilson’s murder.

Here is a video of Wilson’s grandmother Constance Wilson and sister Shakira Wilson-Burroughs speaking to NBC10’s Monique Braxton inside their West Philly home about their grandson and brother’s life and legacy:

 
Our deepest condolences to Officer Wilson’s family, friends and colleagues.