Suspects in deadly Philadelphia carjacking held without bail

The two men accused of carjacking a vehicle and then crashing into a family, killing three kids, have been captured and are being held without bail. 

|
Matt Rourke/AP
Richard Starchia, left, Riconya Jackson, center, and her mother Tonia Jackson pay their respects Monday, July 28, 2014, at a makeshift memorial for three children who were killed by a hijacked car that lost control Friday and hit a group of people, in Philadelphia.

Two men accused of carjacking a woman in north Philadelphia and plowing into a family selling fruit on a street corner, killing three children, have been ordered held without bail.

The incident took place on Friday, July 25, and according to reports, during investigations over the weekend, authorities found breaks in the case when a cell phone was found a the scene by a civilian, and other civilians came forward with footage of the suspects fleeing the scene on foot.

Court documents show that 23-year-old Cornelius Crawford and 19-year-old Johnathan Rosa were arraigned early Tuesday on charges including murder, kidnapping, conspiracy, robbery, aggravated assault, and sexual assault.

Police announced the charges Monday, saying they believe the two forced a real estate agent into her sport utility vehicle and took off at high speed, only to crash about a mile away.

Killed were 15-year-old Keiearra Williams, 10-year-old Thomas Reed and 7-year-old Terrence Moore, who had been selling fruit for a church fundraiser. Their mother was injured, as were a friend who was nearby and the carjacked woman.

According to reports from a media briefing on Monday, Philadelphia Police captain James Clark called the incident “one of the saddest and most tragic” his investigators have seen and said that "As a result of that, everyone worked very hard for the last three days – night in and night out. No one wanted to go home, to make sure that we brought these individuals to justice, and we did that.”

In addition to the outpouring of community support in Philadelphia, former Philedelphia 76ers basketball player Charles Barkley has offered to pay for the funerals of the three girls killed.

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

QR Code to Suspects in deadly Philadelphia carjacking held without bail
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/The-Culture/Family/2014/0729/Suspects-in-deadly-Philadelphia-carjacking-held-without-bail
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe