Gun violence takes student’s life during botched robbery

Police say a language barrier caused the Southwest Philly robbery to turn deadly for a Mali-born student.

In many cultures, including those of West Africa, it is customary to hold a mourning vigil after the death of a friend or family member.

Such a gathering in South Philadelphia’s Elmwood Park, therefore, would only result from the type of tragedy that befell Mali-native Mamadou Makadji last week.

Makadji, 22, who was enrolled in Temple’s Intensive English Language Program, had been in the country for a mere three months when he was gunned down during an attempted robbery August 17.

Makadji and two friends were sitting on a park bench early that Monday morning on the 2800 block of South 71st Street in Southwest Philadelphia when an unknown man approached them, demanding drugs and money, according to police reports. After one of Makadji’s friends – the only one of the three who spoke fluent English – told the man they had neither, the would-be robber told the trio to turn out their pockets.

The assailant, seemingly frustrated by Makadji’s slow reaction, then brandished a .45-caliber handgun and pistol-whipped then shot Makadji, a native French speaker who had trouble understanding the gunman’s demands.

Although the two witnesses were able to escape unharmed, Makadji was pronounced dead shortly after the incident, at 1:28 a.m., after he was taken to the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania.

In a statement to The Temple News, a Philadelphia Police spokesperson declined to comment on whether police have identified any suspects or persons of interest in the case.

Capt. James Clark of the Philadelphia Police Department’s Homicide Unit stated that the perpetrator fled the scene without taking anything from Makadji or his friends, according to a press release about the incident.

“This was totally senseless,” he added.

Such sentiments were echoed in the largely West African neighborhood surrounding Elmwood Park – Makadji lived only a few blocks from where he was killed. His uncle, Mame Makadji, owns a modest minimarket nearby.

“In Mali, you have guns for animals – lions, tigers, elephants – not for people,” the elder Makadji said of his nephew’s death. The victim’s parents, who still live in Mali’s capital city of Bamako, heard of their son’s death in an early-morning phone call.

Grief over the loss of Makadji stretched from Bamako’s street to North Broad Street when IELP classmates learned of the incident through Tuttleman Counseling Services.

“Students from all over the world, [including those from countries that have survived recent civil wars] don’t feel safe in Philly,” IELP Community Programs Director Miriam Oppenheimer wrote in an e-mail Thursday. Regardless of their fears, she said, IELP students “rose to the occasion and were very strong under very challenging circumstances.”

Although it is disproportionately rare for Temple students to fall victim to violent crimes, the IELP students’ concerns are not totally unfounded in a city that averaged nearly one murder a day last year.
“[Philadelphia] is getting safer,” Oppenheimer said, adding that the IELP informs its students of basic safety precautions to be taken while traveling into the city. “But it still isn’t safe enough.”

Donald Hoegg can be reached at donald.hoegg@temple.edu.

Public cautioned after attempted abduction of Temple student

Philadelphia Police reported the attempted abduction of a 20-year-old female Temple student last night near the Center City campus. The student was able to escape from the suspect’s vehicle after one block, police said.

The suspect, described as a black male in his 20s or 30s, about 6 feet tall, and about 200 pounds, was on North 16th Street by a black four-door sedan, asking for help adjusting a car seat in the vehicle.

When the student approached the vehicle, the suspect pushed her into it, and locked the back door. What she had thought was a child in the seat was actually a doll. Police said the student also saw a black handgun resting on an armrest beside the suspect.

The student escaped after one block when the assailant stopped at a red light at N. 16th Street and JFK Boulevard.

Capt. John Darby of the Special Victims Unit cautioned the public to be wary of the car seat ruse.

“This is something I have not seen in my years at the SVU,” Darby said. “Obviously the MO here is quite different.”

The student was not physically harmed or assaulted, Darby said.

Temple University Campus Safety Services sent an e-mail to students alerting them to this and another Center City incident, along with the following list of reminders about how to stay safe.

1.	Be aware of your surroundings at all times. Do not use distracting devices like cell phones and iPods, especially while traveling alone.
2.	Do not engage, or become engaged, in conversations with strangers.
3.	Do not approach or get in a stranger’s vehicle.
4.	If you are uncertain of your safety or surroundings, contact the Temple police immediately by dialing 1-1234 from a campus phone or 215-204-1234 from a non-campus phone, or dial 911.

Off-campus brawl leads to expulsion

Kevin Furey’s parents didn’t want him to transfer to Temple. They were willing to bear the burden of Catholic University’s higher costs for what they felt was a better atmosphere for their son.

However, Furey had friends at Temple and thought he would enjoy the North Philadelphia university more than Catholic in Washington, D.C. His parents relented and let him transfer.

Today, Furey wishes he never made the move. He now faces serious criminal charges and was permanently expelled from Temple for possessing a weapon and disorderly conduct. Furey believes he wrongfully charged and suffered injuries at the hands of a Philadelphia Police officer.

On April 5, 2008, Furey, a former finance major, left one of his two jobs and drove his mother’s car to Temple. He was going to hang out with his friends.

They went to a party on the 1800 block of Diamond Street, and then went to a friend’s house on the 1700 block of Monument Street, where they watched TV and ordered Chinese food.

At some point, Furey’s friend John Fisher locked himself out of his bedroom. They tried using credit cards to open the door, but nothing worked.

Around 3 a.m., Furey remembered he had a machete in the trunk of his mother’s car. He left it there after landscaping his parent’s three-acre home.

He went to his car to retrieve the machete in order to pry open Fisher’s door.

Exactly what happened next is in dispute, but it ended with Furey sitting in a hospital in handcuffs, facing charges of assaulting a police officer, terroristic threats and possession of an instrument of crime with intent.

Furey said he was standing at the trunk of the car retrieving the machete, when he heard someone call out to him from across the street. He said he saw a small group of young men walking toward him. They asked him what he had in his hand.

“None of your business,” Furey said.

They asked him again.

Furey said one of the men in the group pulled a gun when the group saw the machete.

He dropped the machete and said the man with the gun and several of his friends jumped on him, knocking his head against the pavement.

Furey struggled against the man trying to subdue him. Seconds later, a Campus Police officer showed up and held Furey down until he could be handcuffed. Then, Furey said he was dragged into a Campus Police car.

The man with the gun was Travis Wolfe, an off-duty Philadelphia Police officer from the 22nd District and recent Temple graduate. The other people in the group were Colin Anderson and Doug Segars, both Temple students, and Stephen Robinson, who has since joined the police academy.

Wolfe’s story, to which he testified in court and at a University Disciplinary Committee hearing, isn’t the same story Furey told.

Wolfe said in court he was in a vehicle, driving down the block, when he heard someone shouting. He said he rolled down the window of his vehicle and heard Furey shouting. He said he saw something metallic, which he thought was a gun handle, in Furey’s waistband.

Wolfe said he called out to Furey and asked him what was in his pants. Then, Furey quickly walked toward him, with the machete raised above his head, in what Wolfe described as a “combat mode.”

Wolfe said he stepped out of his vehicle, shouted, “Police, drop the knife,” and aimed his gun at Furey.

He said he then pulled up his shirt to reveal his badge, and when Furey dropped the machete, attempted to apprehend him. At this point, the Campus Police officer showed up.  

Furey was refused at police headquarters because of the injuries to his head and knees and was taken to Hahnemann University Hospital.

Furey said while there, the Temple police officers who accompanied him refused to call his parents,  telling him they don’t call phone numbers with the area code 610.

His parents found out a day later, when police called Andrew Haff, Furey’s friend, who then called his parents.

Furey was charged with aggravated assault, possession of an instrument of crime with intent, terroristic threats with intent to terrorize another, simple assault and reckless endangerment. The case is still open, so the district attorney’s office could not comment.

Meanwhile, his problems with Temple had just begun. After multiple postponements, a UDC hearing ended with Furey being expelled for violating the Temple student code of conduct.

Furey said the panel members, Temple faculty and students, did not seem interested in fairness.

“[The hearing] was one of the most biased things ever. It wasn’t a hearing. They had already made up their minds,” he said.

One of the panel members, English professor Keith Gumery, questioned Furey’s argument that he was afraid the group approaching him was a gang.

“Could you define a gang for me, what you believe a gang to be?” Gumery asked.

“A group of criminals with the same allegiance and mindset,” Furey answered.

“So if they were a group of friends who’d been to a club and were wearing board shorts and Hawaiian shirts, you would see them … as being a gang?” Gumery asked.

Later, Gumery questioned Fisher’s need to get into his room.

“Could you have gone to stay with someone else that night, or did you really need to get into it that night?” Gumery asked. “Was there something you needed that night at 3:30 in the morning?”

“My bed,” Fisher said.

Missing from the meeting were Anderson, Segars, and Robinson, Wolfe’s companions that night. Also missing were the officers who accompanied Furey to the 22nd District, the Roundhouse and then to Hahnemann.

Furey’s mother, Margaret Boyce-Furey, said those five witnesses were crucial to his argument that Furey was not in the wrong.

According to the Temple hearing transcript, Robinson did not want to be in the hearing. Since he was not a Temple student, he could not be compelled to attend. Both Segars and Anderson refused to attend (it is not specified which of the two refused), and the other never responded.

Another discrepancy between the two stories is Wolfe’s vehicle. Furey said Wolfe and his friends were walking down the street before the altercation, while Wolfe said he was in a vehicle. This has added to the Furey’s suspicion that Wolfe’s story doesn’t check out.

Anderson, Segars, and Robinson had attended a party at 1727 Monument St. on April 5, 2008.

At the UDC hearing, Wolfe said he drove from the 16th District up to Monument Street to pick up his friends from the party shortly before the incident occurred at 3:30 a.m.

The Furey family said they are appealing the decision to expel him from Temple.

Temple officials said they do not comment on disciplinary actions.

Travis Wolfe has referred questions to the police press office.

Stephen Zook can be reached at stephen.zook@temple.edu.

Inside the uniform, anxiety emerges anew

Thomas Hyers undergoes a transformation every day.

After putting on his police uniform and going to the 23rd Police District, located at 17th Street and Montgomery Avenue, Hyers becomes Lieutenant Hyers. But last week, the lieutenant thought, for just a moment, he wouldn’t be able to transform the next morning.

“I was in the room, standing next to [Officer] John Pawlowski’s body, and I thought to myself, it’s time to do something else,” Hyers said. “But then, you get some sleep, and you wake up and come back the next day.”

Pawlowski had been a student of Hyers during his time at the Police Academy. Hyers also knew four other police officers who have died in the last 16 months.

Last year, C. Scott Shields, the attorney for the National Rifle Association, said, per the Philadelphia Inquirer, “I’d advise every resident of Philadelphia to go out and buy their guns now.”

At the time, Philadelphia was fighting for the right to enact city-specific gun control laws in an effort to curb the number of shootings. The NRA filed a lawsuit, which was followed by a decision by the commonwealth to deny Philadelphia the ability to “ban possession or sale of assault weapons within city limits” and a one-gun-a-month limit.

If it’s evidence the commonwealth needs, it should visit the station where Hyers works.

“The captain and I look around and are concerned about [officers’] mental health,” Hyers said. “I’ve had a lot of officers in here, and they’re upset. Inside the blue shirt, behind the badge or the vest, is a person. Officers cry. They get upset. They get scared. [They do] all the things every one else does.”

Hyers added that the human health of police officers is being carefully monitored. The day after Pawlowski was shot, they “got right back on their horse, as heartbroken as they were, and they did their job.”

With husbands, wives and children urging them to quit, doing their duties is becoming increasingly difficult. Hyers said he received a text message from his daughter that day in regards to his safety.
If the NRA is concerned with the basic right of the Constitution for Americans to “bare arms,” the association should consider Philadelphians’ natural right to live.

Living scared is not the proper way to attend work every day, yet the police force in Philadelphia has to do so.

Limiting the number of guns sold and to whom they are sold will not make violence in Philadelphia evaporate, but it certainly will aid the process.

Philadelphians themselves need to think a moment longer before they choose violence.

“Nobody calls us for birthday parties. Nobody calls us for bar mitzvahs or christenings,” Hyers said. “If you’re called there, it’s because they’ve already tried to work it out, can’t, and someone said, ‘We better get the police here.’”

When people cannot control themselves because of domestic situations, Hyers said it puts everyone in danger.

“That’s why police officers are killed.”

Though people need to take responsibility for them, if they didn’t have guns, no police officer would have a gun pointed at his or her chest.

Ashley Nguyen can be reached at ashley.nguyen@temple.edu.

Ramsey improves his record

In November 2007, I wrote an article criticizing then Mayor-elect Michael Nutter’s choice of Charles Ramsey as commissioner of the Philadelphia Police Department.

Today, I am writing to say Ramsey has proven me wrong.

In the first article, I cited Ramsey’s history as police commissioner in Washington, D.C., as evidence he would not be a good fit for Philadelphia. Ramsey presided over a police department that had been sued for human rights violations.

Since coming to Philadelphia, though, Ramsey has proven himself to be an able commissioner for Philadelphia’s police force.

It’s true that crime rates have not changed substantially, and property crimes are on the rise. However, property crime rates will always rise in a recession. Ramsey cannot be blamed for that.

Ramsey’s biggest success so far was his reaction to a police beating caught by a TV helicopter’s cameras. In May 2008, almost a dozen police officers were videotaped by the helicopter beating and kicking three suspects. Ramsey fired four officers and disciplined as many within two weeks after the incident.

The commissioner caught flak from the Fraternal Order of Police for doing so. The FOP said he should have let the investigation take place. Ramsey realized, perhaps better than the police union of this city, how important public relations are, especially when they are often far from warm.

In my earlier article, I wrote that the city’s public image could not afford to have Ramsey at the helm. I said so because Ramsey had left the District on mixed terms and had drawn criticism for some actions he took when large anti-war protests were held in the city.

As it happened, Ramsey has only improved the city’s image. Murder rates are down, which matters when they garner more headlines than other crimes.

Not only has he improved the city’s image, but Ramsey improved how Philadelphians perceive the city’s police force. This perception can be one of the most critical obstacles in bringing down crime rates.

Combating crime doesn’t just take officers and squad cars. It takes at least a lukewarm – if not cozy – relationship between the public and the police. Then, people feel more responsible to help the police, helping to bring criminals to justice.

Ramsey deserves accolades for what he has done for Philadelphia in his first year. The commissioner may not have solved all the city’s crime problems, and some problems are getting worse, but that isn’t the point. Getting stuck on the statistics after one year would be a mistake. No one could significantly change Philadelphia’s crime rates all on their own in a year, or even two, without committing some serious human rights violations.

The important point is that Ramsey is taking on Philadelphia’s problems with what a recent Philadelphia Inquirer article called “relentless energy.”

It is that energy that Philadelphia needs, especially from the upper echelons of its leadership. Ramsey has not lost his energy after decades as a police officer.

Some of Ramsey’s actions in Washington, D.C., will not look well on his legacy. But judging from his first year as Philadelphia’s top police officer, those actions may only be a footnote to a much more effective career in Philadelphia.

Stephen Zook can be reached at stephen.zook@temple.edu.

Man critical after near-campus shooting

UPDATED: 11:00 a.m., Jan. 23, 2009

A 25-year-old male is in critical condition after a shooting at the corner of Broad and Susquehanna streets.

Philadelphia Police told The Temple News that a black male was shot at approximately 10:45 p.m. Thursday near Crown Fried Chicken, located across the street from White Hall, a Temple dorm.

The victim was shot in both legs and entered surgery early Friday morning. He is reported in critical condition at Temple Hospital, police said.

Surveillance cameras captured the altercation between at least two people, but the shooting wasn’t captured. As of Friday morning at 11 a.m., police have no suspects and no warrants for arrest.

Eyewitnesses reported seeing a group of four black males in their 30s at the scene.

Kalima Thomas, a senior journalism major, lives above the Peking Chinese restaurant near Crown Fried Chicken. She said she heard shots from her apartment. When she looked out her window, she saw three men fleeing the scene, running west down Susquehanna, she said.

Thomas said she saw one male bleeding from the lower body, appearing lifeless. Moments later, police responded to the location and Thomas went back to her apartment.

The victim was loaded onto a gurney and put into an ambulance.

As helicopters circled the surrounding blocks in search of the suspects, Thomas said she witnessed two of the three men being escorted back on Susquehanna Avenue in handcuffs to the squad cars.

However, Philadelphia Police said made no arrests at the scene.

At least three other Temple students have also claimed to witness the shooting from the steps of White Hall. The students said they saw an altercation among a group of males which led to one pulling a gun on another.

They said they heard four or five shots as they ducked for cover in the vestibule of the residence hall.

Matthew D. Wargo can be reached at mdwargo@temple.edu. Chris Stover contributed to this report.

Home-invasion hold ups cause concern near campus

Morgan Zalot
The Temple News

A shot rang out at Ninth and Norris streets minutes before 1 a.m. Nov. 2, leaving one Temple student injured, said Campus Safety Services Executive Director Carl Bittenbender.
The student, later identified as Mackenson Altidor, a senior marketing major and defender for Temple’s men’s soccer team, sustained a gunshot wound to the buttocks. He was taken to Temple Hospital shortly after the incident, treated and released later that morning.
Altidor was approached by three unknown males demanding money, one of whom displayed a gun, on the 900 block of Norris Street, according to the daily crime report compiled by Campus Police.
Bittenbender said according to Altidor’s report, he was shot when he told the men he did not have any money. Nothing was taken from Altidor or from the other students who were allegedly present.
Both Associate Director of Athletics Larry Dougherty and soccer coach David MacWilliams declined to comment on the incident.
In an e-mail correspondence with The Temple News, Altidor identified himself as the student involved in the incident but declined further comment, citing he felt he was at risk of losing his scholarship if he conducted an interview.
On Nov. 2, the men’s soccer team played and won a game against Xavier University. The night before games, the soccer team has a curfew. The men’s soccer playoffs are this weekend in Pittsburgh, Pa.
Suspects are unknown, said Bittenbender, but there is no indication that the perpetrators were Temple-affiliated.
He said an investigation is currently underway by the Philadelphia Police Department’s East Detectives Division, and Campus Police will continue to receive updated information.
Morgan Zalot can be reached at morgan.zalot@temple.edu.

Groups of gun-brandishing males burglarized at least four off-campus student residences recently.

In the corridor just west of 18th Street, students at four separate residences answered knocks on their doors to find three to four males who held them at gunpoint and proceeded to subsequently rob their homes, stealing money, credit cards, electronics and other valuables, Campus Safety Services Executive Director Carl Bittenbender said.

On Friday, Bittenbender said personnel from Campus Police canvassed the area where the burglaries occurred and handed out fliers to notify residents of the incidents.

The fliers also advised residents to be vigilant and make use of front windows or peepholes to identify visitors before unlocking the door. Residents are urged to call 911 if they do not recognize people knocking at their doors and feel threatened, or if someone knocks persistently.

“No injuries have been reported,” Bittenbender said, adding that all four known incidents involving students happened during the day or early evening, not overnight.

The Philadelphia Police Department’s Central Detective Division, in conjunction with Campus Police, is currently investigating the incidents.

Morgan Zalot can be reached at morgan.zalot@temple.edu.

Campus Police respond to stabbing on 16th Street

Campus Police arrested a man for stabbing a woman to death in a non-Temple affiliated residence blocks from Temple, police said.

In conjunction with Philadelphia Police, Campus Safety Services officers responded to reports of a woman screaming in the 1600 block of North 16th Street shortly after 3 a.m. Oct. 12, said Campus Safety Services Executive Director Carl Bittenbender.

Upon arriving at the residence, officers from both departments entered. The suspect then stabbed the woman to death in the bathroom of the home, said Bittenbender.

Police arrested Solomon Carter, a resident of the home, in connection with the stabbing, according to the Oct. 12 crime report compiled by Campus Police.

Police not just saving students

Do you ever hear news – like that of officer Patrick McDonald’s being brutally shot to death a few short blocks from Main Campus – and feel as though Temple is some strange oasis in the middle of a war zone?

I do sometimes. And I love Philadelphia. I was born and raised here. It’s not that I grew up in North Philly specifically, but I still have this strange attachment to all parts of the city. In fact, I’ve even developed an affinity for North Philly – North Central, Yorktown, Girard, you name it – because it feels like home now.

What I can’t come to terms with, though, is all of the violence. It seems as if people shoot each other every few days, and I don’t understand it. I’ve always thought of the area surrounding Temple as a community, despite its rough-and-tumble streets. But each day, it gets more and more difficult to believe it.

In response to the shooting of McDonald, a resident of the area near Dauphin and Colorado streets was quoted in the Philadelphia Inquirer as saying, “The cops don’t protect us. They protect the students. Let one of them students put their hands on us, the cops wouldn’t do anything. Let something happen to one of those students and the cops would kick our behinds.”

Police are on the streets for a reason, and that is to protect the welfare of everyone, regardless of age, race, status or creed. I don’t buy that police are here just to protect students. That is absurd.
Who knows, maybe coming from a family of a few police officers has created for me this romantic notion of what they’re all about, but I doubt it.

Don’t get me wrong, I would wager that police are perhaps a bit more vigilant when they see a few students walking down the street in North Philly. After all, 32 percent of students at Temple are from out-of-state, and the other 68 percent from Pennsylvania, according to the most recent student profile. Think about yourself and five of your friends. I would guess that the majority of you aren’t from Philadelphia.

So by default, Temple students are less likely to understand the dynamic of the neighborhood in which they’re living. Why shouldn’t police be slightly more vigilant on their behalf? I’m not saying residents don’t deserve the same attention – they absolutely do. I am saying that they are probably less likely to walk into a situation unknowingly and find themselves in a mess they aren’t sure how to get out of.
Being raised in North Philadelphia or many other parts of the city requires a certain toughness, or at least more street smarts than suburban or rural Pennsylvania.

I’ve been told time and time again by police from Campus Safety Services that the Temple Police act like an extra district for the Philadelphia Police Department in an area that desperately needs it. Campus Police have responded to shootings that have nothing at all to do with the students. Why would they bother with this if police are only there to serve students?

To me, the answer is crystal clear – because they aren’t. Whether it’s an officer from the 22nd District, a highway patrol officer or a Temple Police officer, they’re on the streets for a reason, and that is to protect the common good.

Morgan Zalot can be reached at morgan.zalot@temple.edu.

Two Philadelphia Police officers shot, one fatally, blocks from campus

Shots were fired shortly after 1:30 p.m., about five blocks northwest of Main Campus near 17th and Dauphin streets, injuring one Philadelphia Police officer and killing another, police said.

An officer from the Public Affairs division of the Philadelphia Police Department confirmed at 3:50 p.m. that one officer was fatally wounded in the incident and the other is in stable condition at Temple University Hospital. The Philadelphia Police are not releasing any more information at this time.

Officer Patrick McDonald, 30, was killed near 17th and Colorado streets, about a half a block from 17th and Dauphin streets, according to a Philadelphia Inquirer story on philly.com, and Officer Richard Bowes, 36, was shot in the leg. The Inquirer also reported that police recovered a large-caliber handgun near the scene.

Lt. Edward Woltemate of Campus Safety Services said that both officers were from the highway patrol division and that Campus Police responded to the incident to aid Philadelphia Police.

“We do have officers respond [for] emergency calls,” he said. “But we weren’t involved in any apprehension or gunfights.”

According to the TU Advisory e-mail sent to the university community at approximately 3:15 p.m., one suspect was shot and another is in police custody.

Woltemate said that Campus Police have not received any further details, but more information should be released tomorrow.

The officer killed in this incident is the third Philadelphia Police officer shot and killed in the line of duty in the past 11 months.

Stay with temple-news.com for continuing updates on this developing story.

Morgan Zalot can be reached at morgan.zalot@temple.edu.

Next Page »