4 arrested in related Wissinoming shooting deaths that killed 2, including auto-repair shop owner

Philadelphia police have arrested four men in connection with two separate but related shootings this month in the tight-knit Wissinoming neighborhood.

One of the April 11 shootings killed Michael Gleba, 56, an auto-repair shop owner felled by a stray bullet.

Police said Thursday that Shabazz Sweets, 19, of the 3800 block of North Marshall Street in Hunting Park, and Eric Smith, 25, of the 200 block of Rosemar Street in Olney, had been charged with murder, conspiracy, and related offenses in the death of Gleba. He was working outside his Northeast Speedometer Service Inc. shop on Benner Street near Edmund about 3:15 p.m. when he was shot in the stomach.

Gleba was hit as Sweets allegedly fired toward a group of four people about a block away. Sweets also was charged with attempted murder and related offenses for allegedly shooting at the others.

Smith was with Sweets at the time, a police source said.

The shooting on Benner allegedly stemmed from an ongoing dispute between Smith and Timothy Sherfield, who was the intended target, said the police source, who was not authorized to publicly discuss the case.

After the shooting, Sherfield, 28, and another man from the corner group, James MacGregor, 20, allegedly went to Anchor Street, several blocks away, in the belief that the person who shot at them was from that area, said the police source.

Under Sherfield’s direction, the source said, MacGregor went into the Alixandro Mini Market at Anchor and Torresdale Avenue about 4:40 p.m. and fatally shot Izeem Hunter, 23, whom they recognized as an Anchor Street resident.

But neither Sweets nor Smith is with the Anchor Street group, the source said.

MacGregor, of the 4800 block of Rawle Street in Tacony, faces murder and gun charges in Hunter’s death. Sherfield, of the 7200 block of Rising Sun Avenue in Burholme, has been charged with murder, conspiracy, and related offenses.

Sherfield faces a May 1 preliminary hearing. His attorney, Michael Huff, said Thursday that his client is “fighting his charges” and “maintaining his innocence.”

Sweets, Smith, and MacGregor face May 8 preliminary hearings.

Defense attorneys Michael McDermott and Jason Kadish, who were recently appointed to represent Sweets and Smith respectively, did not have any immediate comment Thursday. No attorney was listed for MacGregor on his docket.

All four defendants were denied bail.

Sherfield was on probation after pleading guilty last year to charges of robbery, burglary, and one gun offense stemming from a March 2017 incident, and being credited for about 11 months served in jail.

Sweets was sentenced last year to probation after pleading guilty to a theft charge in a stolen-auto case. Smith had pleaded guilty in 2015 to drug charges, for which he had received probation.