Police chase after shooting ends near campus

A fatal shooting in Southwest Philadelphia Friday afternoon resulted in a police chase that ended near campus at 43rd and Pine streets, police said. Kevin Jasper, a 20-year-old resident of the 5200 block of Florence Avenue, was pronounced dead on the scene with multiple gunshot wounds to the chest and head, according to Philadelphia Police Department Homicide Capt. Joseph Mooney. Police discovered Jasper in the rear seat of a dark blue Mercedes driven by 26-year-old Anthony Murphy, also of the 5200 block of Florence Avenue, Mooney said. Murphy -- who police said was shot in the back of the head -- was immediately transported to the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, where he remained in critical condition as of last night. The two men were shot on the 1500 block of South Wilton Street -- near 52nd Street and Woodland Avenue -- at approximately 5:30 p.m., Mooney said. Police began to follow the car after observing it driving erratically at 43rd Street and Woodland Avenue. The vehicle was involved in an accident at 43rd Street and Baltimore Avenue but sped off, only to crash into a parked yellow station wagon at 43rd and Pine streets, police said. Mooney said Jasper was pronounced dead at 7:15 p.m. He noted that police have not yet made any arrests in connection with the fatal shooting, adding that detectives investigating the incident do not know the motive behind the homicide. Although a report in Saturday's Philadelphia Inquirer said that Murphy had been wearing a bulletproof vest as he drove the car, Mooney said yesterday that he could not confirm which of the two men had been wearing the vest. Abdul Ahmed -- a delivery driver for Colonial Pizza at 43rd and Pine streets --Esaid he had been driving in front of the Mercedes, which had one door open and was swerving from side to side. After Ahmed pulled over to the side of the road, the Mercedes hit the yellow car, he said, adding that the driver -- who had blood on his face and shoulders -- was carrying a gun when he got out of the car. Mooney declined comment on whether police had recovered any weapons from either Murphy or Jasper. Another witness, College junior Joe Conley, said he and his roommates saw the car's driver dash toward a police officer who had drawn his handgun. He explained that the driver then sat down in a police car's front passenger seat, but moved to the rear seat after the same police officer told him to "get out." Conley, who said he witnessed the scene from the window of his apartment at 43rd and Spruce streets, said he heard the driver tell police he knew who was responsible for his shooting and that of the Mercedes' passenger. "'I know who did it'," Conley quoted the driver as saying. Conley added that a police van transported the driver from 43rd and Pine streets. "It's just a strange thing to see on a Friday after school," he said. Daily Pennsylvanian Campus News Editor Marisa Katz contributed to this report.