Woman shot and killed by her ex-boyfriend in South Philadelphia, police said, just days after reporting abuse

A 31-year-old woman was shot and killed by her ex-boyfriend in South Philadelphia on Tuesday night, police said — just days after she reported his abuse to detectives and a warrant was issued for his arrest.

Lethanaphone Onesy was walking on the 2300 block of South Marshall Street with another man just before 7 p.m. when two men with guns accosted them, said Deputy Police Commissioner Frank Vanore.

Surveillance video shows one of the men, 35-year-old Sherman Carney, grabbed the man she was walking with and held him at gunpoint, Vanore said. As a third man stood lookout, Vanore said, 32-year-old Carey Jones, who is believed to be Onesy’s ex-boyfriend, grabbed Onesy and threw her against a car, before shooting her multiple times in the head.

» READ MORE: Loved ones of a young woman slain in a domestic shooting say police didn’t do enough to protect her

Officers rushed Onesy to Jefferson University Hospital, but her injuries were severe. She died minutes later.

Nearby officers who heard the shots immediately responded and spotted Jones and Carney fleeing the scene, Vanore said. They were apprehended, both still armed with guns, and arrested.

On Wednesday, Jones and Sherman were charged with murder, intimidation of a witness, and related crimes, as well as aggravated assault for restraining the woman’s companion during the shooting.

The third man who acted as lookout has not been caught.

Police had been actively searching for Jones since Friday, Vanore said.

On Feb. 20, Onesy reported to police that Jones had beaten her, striking her in the face multiple times, Vanore said. She met with detectives in the 3rd Police District, and on Friday a warrant was issued for Jones’ arrest.

But officers couldn’t find him, Vanore said. Detectives attempted to work with Jones’ probation officer to have him turn himself in, but he did not, Vanore said.

“Patrol had been looking for him, but we just didn’t find him,” he said.

This is not the first time Jones, of Point Breeze, has been accused of domestic abuse. According to the affidavit for probable cause for his arrest, he was charged with aggravated assault after he came to an ex-girlfriend’s home and physically assaulted her in September 2020.

He pleaded guilty to simple assault, court records show, and was sentenced to three to six months in jail, plus one year probation. Records show he violated his probation multiple times, and was sent back to jail as recently as last year.

On Wednesday, a memorial started to grow on the 2300 block of Marshall Street, where Onesy was shot. A pair of red and white balloons blew in the wind and a set of candles flickered beneath a sheet of light rain. A bouquet of white roses leaned against the paint-chipped wall of a home on a block that appeared neglected by city services and trash clean up.

A woman on the block who asked not to be named for privacy reasons said she knew Onesy, and that she lived in the area.

“She was loved by a lot of people,” she said of her friend. “She was really a good person who didn’t deserve that.”

Vanore said Jones’ conviction should have prevented him from owning a gun.

Still, he had one, Vanore said, and on Tuesday, he waited in the shadows near Onesy’s home, gun in hand, and killed her as soon as she walked by.