Aspiring Campaign Worker’s Murder Leads to Retaliatory Killing in Philadelphia

The execution-style killing of a Philadelphia man who was speaking to a political candidate about volunteering for his campaign led to a retaliatory shooting that left one teenager dead and another wounded, police said late Sunday.

“We do believe these are two rivaling factions,’ Philadelphia Police Commissioner Richard Ross told reporters. “What they’re fighting over we haven’t pinned that down right now, but we are not going to let this pass us by, by not assuming that it’s gang related because everything suggests that it is.”

The first shooting took place at around 3:30 p.m. in the Cedarbrook section of the city. Witnesses said the unidentified 21-year-old victim was talking with Chris Rabb, a Democratic candidate for the Pennsylvania House of Representatives when someone approached the victim from behind and shot him.

Chris Visco, Rabb’s campaign manager, told Philly.com the victim had told Rabb he was going to be a poll worker during Tuesday’s primary election, but also expressed interest in volunteering for Rabb’s campaign. Visco added the victim died with a piece of Rabb campaign literature in his hand.

“One of the people that was with (Rabb) handed him a piece of literature, took his phone number, and another young man came up behind him and shot him execution style in the head,” Visco told WPVI. (Read more from “Aspiring Campaign Worker’s Murder Leads to Retaliatory Killing in Philadelphia” HERE)

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