The Lex Street massacre is the name, given by a ''

Philadelphia Daily News ''Philadelphia Daily News'' is a tabloid newspaper that serves Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The newspaper is owned by The Philadelphia Inquirer, LLC, which also owns Philadelphia's other major newspaper ''The Philadelphia Inquirer''. The ''Dail ...

'' reporter, to a

mass murder Mass murder is the act of murdering a number of people, typically simultaneously or over a relatively short period of time and in close geographic proximity. The United States Congress defines mass killings as the killings of three or more pe ...

that took place in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

on December 28, 2000. It was the deadliest mass murder in Philadelphia history. Ten people were shot in a

crack house A drug house (also called a trap house or drug den) is a residence used in the illegal drug trade. Drug houses shelter drug users and provide a place for drug dealers to supply them. Drug houses can also be used as laboratories to synthesize ( ...

in the 800 block of Lex Street in

West Philadelphia West Philadelphia, nicknamed West Philly, is a section of the city of Philadelphia. Alhough there are no officially defined boundaries, it is generally considered to reach from the western shore of the Schuylkill River, to City Avenue to the nort ...

. Seven of them died.

Suspects

The

murders Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification or valid excuse, especially the unlawful killing of another human with malice aforethought. ("The killing of another person without justification or excuse, especially the c ...

received substantial public attention, and four suspects, Jermel Lewis, Sacon Youk, Hezekiah Thomas and Quiante Perrin, were quickly charged. However, there was insufficient evidence for prosecution, and after 18 months in jail, charges were dropped. The men later sued for wrongful arrests, and eventually received a $1.9 million settlement from the city. In 2002, four different men were charged in the case, brothers Dawud and Khalid Faruqi who denied being involved in the murder, and Shihean Black and Bruce Veney, who pleaded guilty. All four were later convicted. The prosecution made a plea deal with the brothers: They were given

life sentence Life imprisonment is any sentence of imprisonment for a crime under which convicted people are to remain in prison for the rest of their natural lives or indefinitely until pardoned, paroled, or otherwise commuted to a fixed term. Crimes for ...

s rather than the

death penalty Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that t ...

. Black is serving multiple life terms, and Veney was sentenced to 15 to 30 years in exchange for testifying against the other three suspects, he drove the suspects to the scene but did not actually involve himself in the shooting.

Cause

Originally, police had thought the shooting was due to a drug

turf war A turf war is a fight over territory or resources, or may refer to: Music * ''Turf Wars'', a 2007 album by the Canadian band Daggermouth * "Turf War", a song on the 2001 album ''Filmtracks 2000'' by American composer Bill Television * ''Turf Wa ...

, but in 2002 when the four guilty men were arrested it was revealed that the issue was over a car. Black told police that he had traded a

Chevrolet Corsica The Chevrolet Corsica (named after Corsica, France) is a front-wheel drive compact car that was produced by Chevrolet from 1987 until 1996. The Corsica was built upon the L-body platform. It shared the L-body with the 2-door Beretta, and the reb ...

along with $300, for Porter's (one of the victims)

Dodge Intrepid The Dodge Intrepid is a full sized front-wheel drive four-door sedan that was produced by Dodge for model years 1993 to 2004. It is related to the Chrysler 300M, Chrysler Concorde, Chrysler LHS, Chrysler New Yorker, and Eagle Vision which we ...

. Porter did not know how to use the Corsica's

stick shift A manual transmission (MT), also known as manual gearbox, standard transmission (in Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States), or stick shift (in the United States), is a multi-speed motor vehicle transmission system, where gear changes ...

and blew out the

clutch A clutch is a mechanical device that engages and disengages power transmission, especially from a drive shaft to a driven shaft. In the simplest application, clutches connect and disconnect two rotating shafts (drive shafts or line shafts). ...

. After these issues Porter went to Dawud Faruqi who had traded a pistol for the Dodge Intrepid. Porter wanted his Dodge back, but refused to pay for the damaged clutch on the Corsica. Reportedly, Porter took his car back the next day with an extra set of keys. It was this bad car deal that led to the shooting on December 28. Black told police that the night of the massacre was meant to gather or corral the victims, but when Dawud's mask fell off they began shooting to protect his identity. In the end, seven were dead and three were injured.

2007 book

The mass shooting was explored in a 2007 book titled ''The Lex Street Massacre: The True Story of the Worst Mass Murder in Philadelphia History'', by Antonne Jones. Jones took time studying and investigating the case to create his book which includes interviews from judges, lawyers, and even from the men convicted. This non-fiction work goes through the suspense of the case from the first wrongful convictions to the eventual imprisonment of the murderers. The book has interviews with Shihean Black who mentions the effects that living in decaying projects of Philadelphia had on him, and lead to his loss of respect for life and its value. This novel explores the causes, effects, and the importance of the massacre.

References

External links