A store clerk was shot and killed during a robbery in Frankford, police say
The fatal shooting happened at Frankford Convenience Store, near Frankford Avenue and Pratt Street, across from the Frankford Transportation Center.
A 34-year-old store clerk was shot and killed early Thursday morning in what police said was a robbery at a Frankford convenience store.
Police received a call of a shooting near Frankford Avenue and Pratt Street at 12:18 a.m., said Deputy Police Commissioner Frank Vanore. When officers arrived at the Frankford Convenience Store, across the street from the Frankford Transportation Center, they found the store clerk lying on the floor in the back employee section, the cash register open, and several bills strewn across the floor next to him, said Chief Inspector Scott Small.
The clerk, identified as Kenneth Kennedy-McLeod, was shot in both shoulders and taken to Temple University Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 12:43 a.m., police said.
Surveillance footage being reviewed by police shows Kennedy-McLeod was sweeping up while the store was closed when he noticed a man trying to break in through the back door of the business, said Vanore. Another man was seen acting as a lookout, he said.
When Kennedy-McLeod confronted the two men, the assailants pushed him back into the store and shot him, said Vanore. The two men then stole cash and merchandise from the store, he said.
Cash and five shell casings were found near the victim’s body, said Small.
No weapon was recovered and no arrests were made, police said.
Outside the Pratt Street convenience store Friday morning, police crime scene tape blocked the entrance, just steps away from the bustling transportation center. A photo of the store owner’s friend, another victim of gun violence, hung on the door of the store. Kennedy-McLeod’s burgundy Buick Regal was still parked in front of the store.
Inside a diner next door, Melissa Ross, who was working behind the counter, said Kennedy-McLeod — whom everyone called “Flock” — was a good man who had young children. He had owned the convenience store — the only business on the block that was open late — for nearly five years, she said.
A visibly distraught customer at the diner, who asked not to be identified for safety reasons, said he was a friend of Kennedy-McLeod and described him as a “family man.”
Anyone with information bout the crime is asked to call the Homicide Unit at 215-686-3334 or to submit anonymous tips by calling or texting the department’s tip line at 215-686-8477.