Police arrest 15-year-old they say staked out Northeast shooting victims, texting gunmen ‘go’ as targets walked by

A 15-year-old who police say acted as a lookout for the gunmen in the Burholme shooting, standing inside a nearby Dunkin’ and texting “go” to the shooters as their targets walked by, has been arrested, police said Thursday.

Jeremiah Jefferson is expected to be charged with attempted murder, aggravated assault, and related crimes for his alleged role in the shooting at a bus stop in Northeast Philadelphia earlier this month that left eight students injured. He is the fifth person to be charged in connection with the March 6 shooting.

Jefferson was inside the Dunkin’ next to the bus station, while his friends with guns were seated in a blue Hyundai parked outside, said Deputy Police Commissioner Frank Vanore.

Evidence recovered in the investigation showed that Jefferson was texting back and forth with the people in the car, Vanore said, at one point describing his own clothes and telling the shooters to make sure they avoid shooting him.

“Don’t cook me,” he told them.

He then sent photographs of two people, Vanore said, and as the targets approached the bus stop, he made the final call.

“Go,” he wrote, according to Vanore.

Almost immediately, Vanore said, three young men with guns jumped out of the Hyundai and started shooting into the crowd of kids. Eight teens were shot, all between the ages of 15 and 17. Two remain hospitalized, including one victim who was shot nine times.

Within a few days, police had identified the three alleged shooters and their getaway driver: Anhile Buggs, 18; Jermahd Carter, 19; Jamaal Tucker, 18; and Asir Boone, 17.

Boone was arrested in Virginia earlier this week, and Vanore said he would be extradited to Philadelphia on Friday to face charges.

Police on Thursday also announced that they intended to charge Buggs with a separate homicide that occurred in mid-February on the 5800 block of Rising Sun Avenue. In that shooting, 20-year-old Kristofer Dowling was killed just before 9 p.m. while he was walking with a friend to get pizza.

Dowling’s mother, Ivory, said police told her Buggs, who is from Olney, had been driving around the Lawncrest area with others, searching for someone to shoot as part of a back-and-forth feud between groups from Lawncrest and Olney.

The retaliation had been ongoing for years, she said — it was one of the reasons why she moved her family from Lawncrest, their home of 19 years, to Abington two years ago.

Ivory Dowling said her son had sickle cell anemia and was taking a semester off from college, living with his grandmother in the Logan section of the city, working to improve his health. He was not affiliated with any of the groups, she said, but having grown up in the neighborhood, he had a lot of friends who still lived there.

“Those boys were driving around trying to find a body, and my son just happened to be there,” she said.

Vanore said it’s one of multiple shootings investigators expect to connect to the Northeast crime. That includes the shooting of five people outside Imhotep High School on March 4, he said.

In that crime, Dayemen Taylor, 17, was shot and killed while getting onto the bus after school, at Ogontz and Godfrey Streets. Two other students and two women seated on the bus were injured, struck by stray bullets.

Vanore said investigators believe the shooting in the Northeast may have been retaliation for Taylor’s killing, which remains unsolved.

Police Commissioner Kevin Bethel said detectives are working tirelessly to find Taylor’s killers.

“Let the Imhotep community and those in the Ogontz community understand that we’re working just as diligently and hard to bring those individuals into custody,” Bethel said.

Ivory Dowling said she has faith that justice will be served.

A teacher at Castor Gardens Middle School, she said she leans on her students and staff to keep herself going. She returned to work last week, she said, and students stop by often with hugs and words of support.

She’ll remember the best of Kristopher, she said. He was an All-Star baseball player growing up, she said, and loved playing football and video games with his younger brothers, ages 10 and 15. Most recently, she said, he was studying to become a financial advisor.

The news of the arrest, she said, brought some relief.

“I don’t know how to feel. At the end of the day, these are still kids,” she said. “It’s not erasing the pain or bringing back my son. I’m happy and sad at the same time.”