The brother of one of the five victims of the Philadelphia mass shooting revealed that his sibling had just gone outside to go to a store when he was shot twice and killed.
Lashyd Merritt was one of five people shot dead by Kimbrady Carriker, who was armed with a rifle and handgun, Monday night.
Meritt’s brother Dominque Evans told Fox29 that he was shocked by the incident.
Evans said: “[Meritt] I just left the house I guess [the shooter] was right there and shot him twice. “It’s just sad, you see it on TV not in real life, that’s why I’m so shocked.”
The other victims were named Ralph Moralis, 59; Joseph Wamah, 31; Dymir Stanton, 29; and Daujan Brown, 15.
Dominque Evans, pictured here, told Fox29 that his brother had just left his house when he was shot.
Kimbrady Carriker, 40, shot dead four men and a 15-year-old boy in the Kingsessing neighborhood on the eve of July 4 (Pictured: A March 2022 Facebook post shows Carriker dressed as a woman, wearing a bra and wearing hoop earrings and gold bracelets)
Lashyd Merritt, 20, pictured here, had just walked outside when he was shot dead on Monday night
Moralis should have walked his eldest daughter down the aisle this weekend, his ex-partner Tamika Veney told the Philadelphia Inquirer.
She said, “He took good care of his family.” He was just a normal guy, a good person. We will really miss him.’
According to the New York Times, Brown resided at his grandmother’s house in the city’s southwest.
The teenager “had his own zest to dancing,” said his mother, Nyshyia Thomas, 34.
“You were sad around him, he didn’t let you be sad.” “My baby was only 15 years old and I just won’t see my son anymore.”
Families had just been enjoying the celebrations in the neighborhood when Carriker, wearing a bulletproof vest, opened fire on his unsuspecting victims.
He is now in custody and faces multiple murder charges after rampaging through the streets.
A mother and daughter living with Carriker at Block 5600 of Belmar Terrace in 2021 were shocked to learn he had been named as a suspect in the massacre.
Tina Rosette, 49, told the Philadelphia Inquirer that Carriker is “really smart, intelligent and creative” and loves working on computer programs.
Rosette added that while she’s never seen Carriker with a gun, she admitted he was “aggressive about some things in life.”
She recalled that Carriker would sometimes teach people how to fight in self-defense, but she claimed he didn’t give them many instructions on how or when to stop.
But Rosette’s 24-year-old daughter, Cianni, said she saw Carriker’s gun and that he was “trying to familiarize me with guns and things like that.”
Kimbrady Carriker, 40, of Philadelphia, was arrested shortly after a mass shooting in Kingsessing on the eve of July 4 that left five men dead and two children injured
A resident named Roger, who declined to give his last name, said he and his family were eating in the living room around 8:30 p.m. when they heard eight to ten gunshots
At the scene of a July 3 shooting in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, police place a rifle in a bag
On his social media pages, Carriker regularly posted about his support for Black Lives Matter, including his support for workers protesting the July 2020 Black Lives Strike.
He also shared pictures of clothes with phrases like “The First Amendment defines us, the Second Amendment defends us.”
Another hooded sweatshirt bears branding that reads, “I smear tears on my AR-15 liberals.”
Another design includes the eerie phrase, ‘Know we are many, they are few.’ Fearing death is a choice and they cannot hang us all.’
Additionally, Carriker had also shared images showing his support for former President Donald Trump and promoting veganism in another cause.
Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw said at a news conference that evening that she did not know whether the suspect was firing his rifle or handgun at the time of the police pursuit, but confirmed he was “actively firing”.
Officers then heard multiple gunshots further up Kingsessing Avenue, where they found “several bullet casings.”
Officers continued to advance down the street before hearing more gunfire in the 1800 block area of Frazier Street.
Officers were then able to apprehend the suspect in the back alley of the 1600 block of Frazier Street and found that he was armed with the rifle, pistol, several magazines and a police scanner. The police themselves did not fire any shots.
“Thank God our officials reacted so quickly. “I can’t begin to describe the level of bravery and bravery that was shown,” Outlaw said.
Outlaw said at a press conference that all of the mass shooting victims were male, including the two-year-old and the 13-year-old.
A mass shooting is defined by the FBI as an incident in which at least four people are murdered with a gun.
The total number of victims rose overnight and police said a fifth male victim was found four hours after the shooting when a man returned home to find his 31-year-old son dead in the living room with multiple gunshot wounds.
“We believe this murder is related based on the location and location of his home on 56th Street and the fact that we found ballistics evidence that matches the ballistics evidence we found on the street a few hours earlier said Philadelphia Police Chief Inspector Scott Small.
Families had just been enjoying the celebrations in the neighborhood when the gunman in a bulletproof vest opened fire on his victims with an AR rifle and a handgun
District Attorney Larry Krasner and other officers walk through the neighborhood following Monday’s shooting
Philadelphia police were dispatched to 56th Street and Chester Avenue around 8:30 p.m. Monday night, where they found several victims and shell casings strewn on the sidewalk
A resident named Roger, who declined to give his last name, said he and his family were eating in the living room around 8:30 p.m. when they heard eight to ten gunshots.
“Everyone thought it was fireworks, but I’ve been here for about three years, so I’ve heard it enough times,” he said. “I looked out the window and saw a lot of people running.”
He said he heard about four more shots and “thought it was the end.”
The violence in Philadelphia is the 29th mass killing in the country in 2023 and the highest on record at this time this year. And the Kingsessing neighborhood is becoming increasingly dangerous, locals say.
The number of people killed in such events is also highest at this time of year.
According to the database, there have been more than 550 mass killings since 2006, killing at least 2,900 people and injuring at least 2,000 people.