PHILADELPHIA, PA – According to local officials, a 31-year-old male “sex worker” had tried to rob an employee from the Philadelphia District Attorney’s office at gun point.
But apparently the would-be victim was also carrying a weapon and shot and killed the armed robber in self-defense.
Here are the details we know so far.
Of course there’s no charges. Clear case of self-defense. Don’t try to rob people.
— Libertarian Populism (@SemperArgentum) October 22, 2020
The incident was said to have taken place just before 10:00 a.m. on October 20th within the 2600 block of North Napa Street in the Strawberry Mansion neighborhood.
At this time, officials have not released the name of the deceased nor the victim.
According to Philadelphia Police, the armed robber had held up a gun violence counselor that is employed by the DA’s office, which the gun violence counselor produced his weapon and shot the “sex worker” in the chest.
The counselor was not injured during the incident.
The Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office have thus far been viewing the incident as a case of self-defense, according to a spokesperson from the AG’s Office as of October 21st, and they stated that the victim specifically works within the DA’s Immediate Response Team.
Guess that social worker thing (instead of cops) is going out the window now? 🤣
— Hunter’s Crack Dealer (@autonomy_the) October 21, 2020
Considering the possible speculation of bias related to the investigation, a spokesperson for the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office stated that their office is not personally handling the case:
“This is an active investigation that has been appropriately referred to another agency. We have no further comment at this time.”
As of this time, no charges have been filed against the DA’s office employee regarding the incident.
In other cases involving armed robberies being thwarted by gun owners, a case coming from Baton Rouge, Louisiana saw two victims being non-fatally injured and one suspect dead at the scene.
Here’s the details on that case.
Police in Baton Rouge had responded on October 19th to reports of an armed home invasion where a 20-year-old suspect was killed and three others were injured during the incident.
The incident occurred at a residence located within the 900 block of West McKinley Street at approximately 11:10 p.m. that evening.
Police: Armed robber killed during home invasion on West McKinley Street, three others injuredhttps://t.co/Fn2wdN3zm1 pic.twitter.com/eOIRKoXUOj
— WBRZ News (@WBRZ) October 20, 2020
Officials from the Baton Rouge Police Department say that 20-year-old Marcus Hayes Jr was in the process of committing a home invasion/armed robbery at the residence where six people were at the time.
One of the six people inside of the home retrieved a gun and shot Hayes, where police say he was pronounced dead at the scene when they arrived. Reportedly two of the six people inside of the home were also shot, presumably by Hayes, and sustained non-life threatening injuries.
The third person injured that bears a connection to the incident, according to police, was a teenager found wounded on Charles Street at North Acadian Thruway that police say is connected to the home invasion/armed robbery incident.
To what degree the teenager was involved is unclear at this time, but some sources have said that the teen had suffered a gunshot wound to the stomach. However, police have not confirmed the specifics of the teen’s injuries.
The case is still being actively investigated by authorities.
Anyone that can provide further insight into the incident are asked to contact the BRPD’s Violent Crimes Unit at (225) 389-4869 or Crime Stoppers at (225) 344-7867.
We at Law Enforcement Today recently reported on another robbery that was put to an end – but the manner it was done was done was via quick thinking rather than being armed.
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CLIFTON, NJ – Two men were recently arrested in New Jersey for allegedly trying to coerce a couple into pulling money out of an ATM for them. One of the men arrested was said to have even presented himself as a police officer to the victims in the case.
However, it was the ingenuity of the female victim that stopped this robbery after she reportedly mouthed the words “help me” to a passerby at the ATM.
NJ woman thwarts kidnapping by mouthing ‘help me’ to alert cops https://t.co/Ti2wNZgpV3 pic.twitter.com/xXj9XplV9F
— New York Post Metro (@nypmetro) October 20, 2020
Here’s the details.
The incident took place on the evening of October 16th, where a male and a female were sitting inside of their parked vehicle near Main and Vreeland avenues in Clifton.
That’s when a man, later identified by police as 39-year-old Travis Mann, approached the driver’s side door of the vehicle and knocked on the window.
Police say Mann had identified himself as a police officer – which he obviously is not. Rather, he’s a convicted sex offender with a fairly lengthy criminal history.
However, Mann was said to have portrayed himself as a police officer and advised the couple inside of the parked vehicle that they were in violation of laws related to intimacy in a public place.
That’s when police say Mann demanded that the couple pull some money out of an ATM in order to avoid being “arrested.”
The couple then proceeded to an ATM after Mann allegedly informed them that he was armed and Mann’s accomplice, 45-year-old Paul Dunlop, followed the couple in a separate vehicle.
The male victim had just pulled the money out of the ATM when another individual pulled into the parking lot of the bank. At that time, the female victim mouthed the words “help me,” which caught the individual’s attention.
Said person heard the woman loud and clear, so to speak, and called the police.
Clifton Police Lieutenant Robert Bracken stated that local authorities rushed to the scene and were able to apprehend both Mann and Dunlop and effectively rescue the couple. Police have since charged both Mann and Dunlop with kidnapping, carjacking and robbery.
Based upon the allegations about Mann’s alleged role, he was also charged with impersonating a police officer and criminal coercion.
The crime in question is quite reminiscent of some of Mann’s exploits from years earlier, when he was said to have carjacked a night school student at a local McDonald’s drive-thru and forced him to pull out money from various ATMs within Paterson for nearly six hours.
Man kidnapped student, forced him on drive for drugs, cops say: https://t.co/TdDnPRHORv
— Sara Jerde (@SaraJerde) April 23, 2017
Police in that instance said that Mann was engaging in said scheme so as to support his habits related to drug use and his affinity for prostitutes. During that instance of carjacking and coerced robbery, Mann was reportedly wearing an ankle-monitor the entire time.
But there’s more to Mann’s history than just having been arrested numerous times – he actually was once a victim of a shooting by an off-duty police officer. In that case, the officer wound up being sent to prison.
Off-duty Paterson cop found guilty after firing handgun during dispute in 2016 https://t.co/qJTdWBo3tQ
— NorthJersey.com (@northjersey) March 19, 2019
That incident occurred back in 2016 when Mann and then-Officer Dante L. Gordon from the Paterson Police Department had gotten into some kind of an argument outside of a 7-11 and Gordan produced a gun and shot at Mann.
Mann wasn’t directly struck, but rather some bullet fragments wound up hitting him and another victim identified as John Smith.
Years later, in March of 2019, a jury returned a verdict of guilty related to aggravated assault with a handgun, according to the Passaic County Prosecutor’s Office.
Gordon was sentenced to 18 months in prison, which he was released on September 16th of 2020.
Talk about one strange history.
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