Man shot and killed by off-duty Philly homicide detective was unarmed, sources and family’s lawyer say

The 54-year-old man who was shot and killed by an off-duty Philadelphia homicide detective last week was not armed when he approached the officer’s car and was quickly met with gunfire, according to multiple law enforcement sources and a lawyer representing the decedent’s family.

Detective Christopher Sweeney, a 14-year veteran of the force, had just finished his Thursday night shift in homicide and was driving home in his personal car, said the sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss an ongoing investigation.

Around the same time, Robert Jones, a roadside assistance operator, was driving through Northeast Philadelphia.

Just before 11:30 p.m., police said Jones and Sweeney came to a stop in their cars at the intersection of Willits Road and Holme Avenue. For reasons that remain unclear, Jones then got out of his car and approached Sweeney’s vehicle.

Police said Sweeney, while still seated in the driver’s seat of his black Subaru, then opened fire multiple times, killing Jones. Photos taken at the scene of the shooting showed a bullet hole in Sweeney’s driver’s side window.

Jones was rushed to Jefferson-Torresdale Hospital by paramedics, but died shortly after.

Investigators who responded to the scene did not recover a weapon on Jones or in his car, said the sources. Police opened up nearby manholes and searched the sewers for a potential weapon, but did not find one, said Shaka Johnson, a criminal defense and civil rights attorney now representing Jones’ family.

Sgt. Eric Gripp, a spokesperson for the Philadelphia Police Department, declined to comment and referred a reporter to the agency’s earlier statement, which did not say whether or not a weapon had been recovered from Jones.

Johnson said that at the time of the shooting, Jones was wearing a reflective vest, and also has reflectors on his Kia that were related to his roadside work.

“He had nothing in his hands — not a clipboard, pen, not even his phone,” said Johnson.

Sources said that some moments before the shooting were caught on nearby surveillance cameras, but the shooting itself was out of view.

Johnson said Jones’ family is beside themselves and wants answers. He called the shooting an “assassination” that is “criminal in nature,” and said the detective is being given special treatment because of his job.

“Because there’s no video and we have one person’s story, we have yet to hear what’s going on,” he said. “You can see the blue wall.”

Some news outlets initially reported that the shooting was being investigated as an attempted carjacking, as was initially said over police radio.

“I got a male shot on the highway here, attempted carjacking of a off-duty officer,” a police official said over dispatch radio.

Law enforcement sources said that’s no longer believed to be true. The initial public statement released by Philadelphia police did not speculate on what led up to the shooting.

Johnson described Jones as the patriarch of his family. He was the oldest of three brothers, each of whom took turns caring for their elderly mother after she suffered a stroke three years ago, he said. Jones’ last encounters with law enforcement was more than a decade ago, according to court records. He was convicted separately of theft and illegal gun possession in 1991, records show, and was arrested for driving under the influence in 2011, but the charge was later thrown out.

After that, Johnson said, Jones straightened up his life and focused on work and family. He worked for a subsidiary of Aramark for 21 years, and as a groundskeeper for the Philadelphia Eagles. On the side, he picked up roadside assistance gigs. He didn’t drink or smoke, Johnson said, and spent his free time with family or at the gym.

He lived in a modest apartment complex in Northeast Philadelphia, just over a mile from where he was killed.

Staff writer Barbara Laker contributed to this article.