Second suspect named in shooting that killed 3-year-old Grays Ferry girl
Thanks to tipsters, Philadelphia police have identified the man they believe is the gunman in the Friday night shooting that killed a 3-year-old girl who was getting her hair braided and left three other people wounded in the city's Grays Ferry section.
Thanks to tipsters, Philadelphia police have identified the man they believe is the gunman in the Friday night shooting that killed a 3-year-old girl who was getting her hair braided and left three other people wounded in the city's Grays Ferry section.
Police said they are looking for Brandon Ruffin, 22, whose last known address was on the 2300 block of Wharton Street.
A murder warrant was issued for Ruffin, who police said should be considered armed and extremely dangerous.
At a news conference at Police Headquarters on Monday afternoon, Capt. James Clark said Ruffin arrived at the scene on the 1500 block of South Etting Street riding on the handle bars of a bicycle operated by Douglas Woods, 22.
About 9:40 p.m., Ruffin opened fire on his intended target, a 24-year-old man, and hit him the head, Clark said. He was listed in critical condition at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania.
Bullets also struck three other people, including Tynirah Borum, 3, who was hit in the chest and died later at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.
The two other victims - a man and a woman - were wounded, but survived. The intended target of the shooting remained in critical condition Monday afternoon at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania.
A 28-year-old woman was shot once in the left arm and a 21-year-old man was shot once in the right leg. Both were listed as stable at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Clark said.
Woods, 22, of the 1700 block of Ellsworth Street, was arrested shortly after the shooting and is in custody, facing murder charges.
Clark said Tynirah lived around the corner from the shooting scene and was at the home of her mother's girlfriend having her hair braided on the front steps when she was gunned down.
He said there was no relation between Tynirah and the man who was the intended target and that the child "just happened to be on the street."
Ruffin arrived on the bike and had a brief conversation with the 24-year-old man before he fired the gun several times, Clark said.
Clark said there had a "back-and-forth beef" between the 24-year-old man and Ruffin and Woods. Clark said police did not know the nature of that disagreement.
He said Woods and Ruffin were "very well-known to police," adding that they had been charged with several violent crimes over the years.
Clark praised neighbors who gave police information identifying Woods and Ruffin.
He asked anyone with information on Ruffin to call the homicide unit at 215-686-3334 or 215-686-3335.
215-854-5717