Arrest made in 2018 killing of teen girl — a shooting that sparked a war between two West Philly gangs

Philadelphia police this week identified two men they say are responsible for the shooting death of a 17-year-old girl in West Philadelphia six years ago — a killing that prosecutors say ignited a running gun battle between neighborhood crews that left at least 28 people dead within two years.

Residents of the 300 block of North Simpson Street in West Philadelphia were enjoying a balmy spring evening on May 11, 2018, when two men with guns suddenly opened fire down the block. They unleashed more than 20 shots in all, police said, and struck three teenagers.

Among them was Sandrea Williams, a cherished teen from the block, who was fatally struck in the neck and back. She died within minutes of arriving at the hospital.

For six years, Williams’ family has said they’ve lived in fear, while holding onto fleeting hope and their trust in God that one day police would identify the men who fired those shots.

This week, after collecting hundreds of pieces of evidence and persuading reluctant witnesses to speak up, officials said they did just that.

Devin Bryant, 26, turned himself in to police on Tuesday and has been charged with murder, two counts of attempted murder, and related crimes. A warrant has been issued for Salik White, 26, who remains a fugitive and will face similar charges once apprehended, authorities said.

“That was our motto from day one: God, in time, will give us justice,” said Naisha Rhoden, Williams’ aunt. “Bob Marley says whatever happens in the dark must come to light. I knew that one day, we would get justice.”

Assistant District Attorney Jeffrey Palmer of the Gun Violence Task Force, who investigated the case alongside Philadelphia police, said Williams’ killing shook the neighborhood, and detectives and prosecutors remained determined to solve it even as years passed.

“It was impossible for any of us to forget,” Palmer said. “Anytime we had an angle to talk to someone with a potential connection, it was the first thing we would say to each other: ‘Let’s see if we can figure something out about Sandrea.’”

The motivation was, in part, he said, because the shooting ignited a wave of violence through the neighborhood.

Bryant and White were affiliated with a street group from the intersection of 61st and Jefferson Streets in West Philadelphia, he said, and had gone to Simpson Street that day targeting members of the group 02da4. They were seeking retaliation, he said, for a recent fistfight or verbal dispute at a nearby park between members of the groups.

A feud between the crews had started about a month earlier, Palmer said, following a botched marijuana sale that led to one member of 02da4 dissing a dead 61st Street member over Instagram Live. Bryant and others in the group, according to Palmer, “said, ‘Well, once you dishonored the memory of our dead friend, it’s on.’”

Williams, affectionately known as “Bro Bro,” was a fun-loving student at Camelot Academy, her aunt said, and elderly neighbors and relatives alike often relied on her to run errands or help care for her younger siblings and cousins. She spent the first five years of her life in Jamaica, Rhoden said, and those cultural roots led her to become a more independent and responsible young woman. She was interested in joining the military.

Williams was not a member of 02da4, Palmer said, but having grown up on the block, she knew people from the group by proximity and they cared for her. Her death crossed a line for the group members, Palmer said.

“They felt that she was unfairly targeted and was not involved,” he said.

The shooting sparked a significant escalation between the groups, he said, and even ignited beefs between other crews in the area who were aligned with the different sides. In total, he said, at least 66 shootings were linked to the feud through August 2020. In those shootings, 28 people died — and some of them had nothing to do with the feud, he said, like 36-year-old Monae Burrell.

This is Bryant’s second time being charged with a shooting. He was arrested in 2021, but ultimately found not guilty in connection with a string of West Philadelphia shootings alongside his brother and fellow 61st Street member Dashawn Packer, Palmer said. Packer is currently serving decades in prison.

In Williams’ case, Palmer said investigators recovered hundreds of pieces of evidence, including video footage, social media posts, and text messages, and spent hours tracking down people with knowledge of the shooting.

At a few points over the past few years, he said, investigators felt they were close to issuing a warrant, but continued to seek more and more evidence to solidify the case.

“The last thing we wanted to do was try this case, give the family hope, then not have enough information and lose in court,” he said.

Palmer said there was no recent smoking gun — just years of dogged work.

Cases like this “are the reason we do this job,” said Deputy Police Commissioner John Stanford, who was captain of the 19th Police District at the time of the shooting.

Rhoden, 42, said her family was grateful to all the detectives and prosecutors who worked on the case. The last six years without her niece have been agonizing — and while the arrest brings relief, she said, “now we have to relive this all over again.”

Her family has tried to make sense of their lives in the absence of Sandrea, but knowing the killers were still out there ate away at them, she said. Neighbors left the block out of fear, and Rhoden moved with her children to the suburbs.

She said she hopes that as the case moves forward her family will learn the answer to the question that has forever haunted them: “Why did you do this to her?”