Judge holds one man for trial, dismisses charges against another in shooting death of 7-year-old boy

On a summer day last year, 7-year-old Zamar Jones was playing on the porch of his West Philadelphia home when shots rang out on the block and a bullet struck him in the head.

The shooting was captured by a neighbor’s surveillance camera — and played in court Monday in the preliminary hearing for two men charged with killing him.

After watching footage of the gunfight that led to the child’s death, a judge ordered the alleged shooter, Michael Banks, to face trial for murder.

The exchange of gunfire on the 200 block of North Simpson Street began, prosecutors say, when a man in a pickup truck fired at Banks and missed. Banks fired a volley of shots at the fleeing truck and instead hit the boy, whose home was several houses down on the other side of the street.

Banks then retrieved what may have been a firearm magazine, and began firing again, according to Homicide Detective Thorsten Lucke.

An accomplice, Damar B. Jones also fired at the pickup with the same 9 mm gun Banks used, Assistant District Attorney Zachary Wynkoop said.

The truck’s driver, identified by authorities as Christopher Linder, 27, was not hit. Banks, 30, and Jones, 28, who is not related to the boy, were charged with murder in the child’s death. Linder, who also was charged, was not in court Monday.

Municipal Court Judge James DeLeon held Banks for trial on all charges in the boy’s death, including murder and gun offenses, but dismissed those charges against Jones, finding that the boy was shot by Banks.

“I can’t put the little boy’s death on Jones,” the judge said.

DeLeon held both men for trial on attempted murder, conspiracy and related charges for shooting at Linder, who faces a separate preliminary hearing next month.

Jones’ attorney, Doug Dolfman, who argued that Jones should not be held on murder charges, asked for bail to be set at $100,000 after those charges were dismissed. The judge set bail at $2 million.

Wynkoop contended that Banks and Jones were already in a conspiracy when Banks first fired shots down the street at the pickup truck, hitting the little boy.

He said afterward that his office is planning to refile the murder charges against Jones in the killing of the boy. He said that it is unclear why Linder first fired at Banks. None of the three men lived on that block, he said.

Banks remains jailed without bail. His attorney, Marni Snyder, argued unsuccessfully that he should not be charged with first-degree murder.

Zamar Jones’ parents and grandmother attended Monday’s hearing, but declined to comment afterward. The boy died two days after he was shot.