PHILADELPHIA — Two teens accused of fatally shooting bystanders during Saturday’s mass shooting on South Street were taken into custody Thursday by US Marshals in Richmond, Virginia, the Philadelphia district attorney’s office said.
Qaadir Dukes-Hill, 18, and Nahjee Whittington, 17, are expected to face murder charges after being extradited back to Philadelphia, District Attorney Larry Krasner said during a news conference at his office.
Dukes-Hill is accused of shooting 24-year-old Alexis Quinn, a home health aide, while Whittington is accused of shooting Kristopher Minners, 22. Both of the victims had been out celebrating in the popular nightlife corridor when they were struck by wayward bullets.
Joanne Pescatore, chief of the DA’s homicide unit, said it appeared that Dukes-Hill and Whittington were friends, and that after a gunbattle emerged on the 200 block of South Street around 11:30 p.m., the two teens pulled out guns they could not have legally possessed and began shooting.
“It appears they had guns and they took them out and randomly fired them,” Pescatore said.
The teens were the last of five suspected gunmen wanted for pulling the trigger on South Street, according to Pescatore.
One other teen, 18-year-old Quran Garner, was arrested Tuesday and charged with firing a ghost gun into a crowd.
Gregory Jackson, 34, whom prosecutors said fired the first shots during a brawl, was killed after the man he attacked — Micah Towns — fired back.
Krasner said his office does not expect to charge Towns because he was acting in self-defense.
One of Jackson’s friends, Rashaan Vereen, has been charged with attempted murder and related counts for participating in the fight with Towns, though police do not believe he fired any shots.
