West Philly gang member who shot 7 people in one day is sentenced to up to 50 years in prison

A 22-year-old Philadelphia man who admitted to taking part in three shootings in one night that left two people dead and five others wounded was sentenced to 22½ to 50 years in prison Friday. The killings were part of a bitter yearlong gang war that gripped West Philadelphia with fear.

Common Pleas Court Judge J. Scott O’Keefe sentenced Jalen Mickens to 17½ to 40 years in prison for his role in fatally shooting Salahaldin Mahmoud, 21, and Sircarr Johnson Jr., 23, at a July 4, 2021, barbecue at Johnson’s store on the corner of 60th and Walnut Streets. Johnson was throwing the barbecue as a way to show his appreciation for the community that had supported his clothing business, Premiére Bande. Two others were wounded.

It was the third shooting Mickens participated in that day. Three others were wounded in the first two shootings.

Mickens was additionally sentenced to 5 to 10 years for a charge of conspiracy, to be served consecutive to his sentence for the two third-degree murder charges.

After Mickens, who was part of one of the gangs, was sentenced, friends and family of Johnson and Mahmoud expressed anger and disappointment that a harsher prison term was not imposed on the man who killed their loved ones. The justice system, Mahmoud’s mother, Lennora said, had failed them.

“The outcome was devastating,” she said Friday afternoon. “So I have no trust in the justice system.”

The deaths of Johnson, who was well known in his community and would often participate in coat drives and other charitable events, and Mahmoud, a family man who held two jobs, shattered the West Philadelphia community, which had been dealing with near-daily gun violence due to an ongoing gang feud in their neighborhood. On that night, more than 100 shots were fired at the partygoers.

For 11 months starting around December 2020, at least 53 people were shot and at least 16 people were killed as a result of the two gangs’ violent back and forth.

That summer day that left Mahmoud and Johnson dead was part of a gang feud between two West Philadelphia-based groups, “02da4″ and “524,” who had traded volleys of gunfire after 02da4 blamed the rival gang for the death of one of their own.

The feud originated, prosecutors said, when Frank “Tooley” Smith, the uncle of 02da4 member Anthony “Pistol P” Lacey-Woodson, was fatally shot in December 2020. The group blamed 524 for the death.

Lacey-Woodson was with Mickens the night of the July 4 murder, prosecutors said. He has also been charged with multiple counts of murder, conspiracy, and related crimes. His case remains ongoing and will go to trial, prosecutors said.

Prior to the sentencing, Mickens, wearing a red jumpsuit, turned slightly to face his friends and family and the families of the two men he had killed. He apologized.

“I’m sorry to the families that’s here,” said Mickens. “I can’t go back and change everything that happened that day.”

But Mickens’ apology was not accepted nor did it provide comfort to Mahmoud. Facing Mickens, she told him he would always be remembered as a murderer, who took away her son.

Before Mickens was sentenced, Mahmoud’s mother spoke fondly of her son, who came from a loving Sudanese family, she said. After graduating Strayer University, he worked two jobs as a pharmacy technician and tow truck driver, she said.

“We don’t feel that justice was served,” Lennora Mahmoud said Friday afternoon. “We suffered for three years just to get that little sentence.”

The victims shot and killed that day in 2021 were not doing anything wrong, said Assistant District Attorney Jeffrey Palmer. Johnson and Mahmoud were not members of any gang and were hit by stray bullets intended for someone else, he said.

Mickens’ lawyer, William Davis, portrayed his client as a young man from a good family who had gotten wrapped up with the wrong people.

Mickens’ mother, Tara Rhodes, apologized to the victims’ families, in disbelief that she was standing in a courtroom and advocating for leniency for a prison term for her son.

“He was on his way to Temple, not to state prison,” said Rhodes.

But Palmer said Mickens became part of the group willingly, joining a gang outside of the neighborhood where he lived and bragging about the people the group killed in text messages.

“He wasn’t pulled into anything,” said Palmer. “He chose to be a part of this.”

In comments made after the sentencing, District Attorney Larry Krasner said the sentence was the result of a deep-dive investigation and called on more forensic resources and tools such as wiretaps for future investigations. The outcome of the case would hopefully serve as a message that Philadelphia residents would be protected, no matter where they lived, said Palmer.

“This case should show that we are going to support those who do the right thing and that in Philadelphia there is a right to have a barbecue, to have a block party, regardless of what neighborhood you live in,” Palmer said.

Shortly before Mickens was sentenced, Sircarr Johnson Sr. recalled the night his son was killed as a day of celebration abruptly turning into one of fear, panic, and tragedy.

After helping his son acquire a business license for his clothing store and setting up the barbecue to celebrate the community that patronized it, Johnson Sr. remembered hearing the fireworks that came with the Independence Day festivities. Soon, he realized there had been gunshots and noticed that somebody had fallen to the ground, apparently shot, he said.

In the commotion, he fell, Johnson said, and his son, who was by his side, fell on him. As he rushed to get up and flee to safety, he assumed his son would get up with him, but he remained on the ground. Johnson had to carry his son for the first time since he was a little boy.

Soon, he realized his son had been shot.

“My son got shot standing right next to me,” Johnson said.

“That’s my whole world,” he added. “Everyone thinks I’m crazy. But I miss my son.”