Man wanted in killing of Philadelphia police officer’s son has turned himself in

One of the suspects wanted in connection with the fatal January shooting of a Philadelphia police officer’s son turned himself in to authorities Friday, police said.

Levar Turner, 23, surrendered to police around 10 a.m. and will be charged with murder for his alleged involvement in the death of Hyram Hill, 24, who police say was shot during an attempted robbery in North Philadelphia earlier this year.

Police released new video footage of Hill’s death this week, including a photo of one of the suspects. Investigators continue to search for a second person involved.

The shooting occurred around 4:40 a.m. on Jan. 24, when Hill, who had just finished his shift as a bouncer at a nearby bar, was approached by two gunmen in front of a store at Broad Street and Allegheny Avenue. They attempted to rob Hill, police said, then shot him nine times and stole his phone and his legally registered gun.

Homicide Capt. Jason Smith said this week that investigators used video surveillance footage to track the earlier whereabouts of the gunmen, who were driving a stolen Kia Forte.

Smith said police had encountered Turner and the other suspect just 15 minutes before Hill’s death, after responding to a nearby domestic violence call. The officers’ conversations with one of the suspects was captured on body camera. Officers did not ask for his name, Smith said, but the footage provided a clear view of the suspect’s face.

Turner was arrested in Philadelphia in February 2020 and pleaded guilty to carrying a gun without a license, records show. In January, a day after allegedly shooting Hill, he was sentenced to three years’ probation. Turner is also currently facing illegal gun possession charges in Montgomery County, records show.

Surrounded by loved ones Friday outside a day care in Cobbs Creek where Hill once worked, his mother Edwenna Ferguson thanked the public and investigators for their work in her son’s case.

Wearing a necklace with her son’s photo on it, Ferguson, a 17-year veteran of the Philadelphia Police Department, pleaded with Philadelphians to come together to stop the violence.

“I feel for everybody and every parent who has gone through what I’ve gone through,” she said. “This city needs a lot of help. We have to get these guns off the streets.”

She said counseling and support groups have helped her in her grief, but as a city, she said, “we gotta do better.”

“People just want to point the finger, but we all live here, we all from this city, we all got to do something. Not just the Police Department,” she said.

Maurice Tavares, 33, remembered his cousin as a lively person who always wanted to make people laugh. He loved kids, Tavares said, and would drive all across the region to see his nephew play basketball.

Hill never got to meet his own daughter, Tavares said. She was born just a few weeks ago.

Hill was a huge Sixers fan, his cousin said, but his all-time favorite player was James Harden — who was acquired by the Sixers just two weeks after Hill’s death.

Had Hill been around to see the trade, Tavares said, “He would have lost it. He would have been the happiest person on Earth.”