Penn mail carrier dies in shooting

A 29-year-old Penn mail carrier was killed last Friday night in North Philadelphia, just steps from his wife's beauty salon. Chad Alexander had just come from visiting his wife, Crystal, at her salon on 30th and York streets when he was shot in the back and torso. He was pronounced dead at the scene. According to his aunt, Patrice Hammond, Alexander died in the arms of his pregnant wife, who rushed outside when she heard the gunshots. "He told her he loved her, fluttered his eyes a little bit and then he closed them," Hammond said. Alexander apparently saw the shooter firing at another man and told him to stop, at which point the shooter turned on Alexander. "He just died helping other people," Hammond said. "If he hadn't said anything, if he had just minded his business, he wouldn't have gotten shot." Det. George Pirrone of the Philadelphia Police Department's Homicide Division said that 21-year-old William Betheh, who family members say was the man Alexander was trying to save, was also killed during the incident. Betheh died from his injuries yesterday in MCP Hahnemann Hospital. Philadelphia Homicide is currently investigating the murders, and did not have any information about possible suspects available last night. Whether Alexander or Betheh knew the shooter is also still under investigation. There are conflicting reports of the relationship between Alexander and Betheh. According to Damone Clayter, one of Alexander's supervisors in the mail room, Alexander and the second victim were cousins. Pirrone said the men were friends and that the motive for the shooting was still unknown. However, another one of the victim's aunts, Patricia Coleman-Brown, who works in Student Financial Services as the manager of student accounts, said the two men did not know each other at all. Alexander began working at the University in 1996 in the mailroom of Student Financial Services. A little over a year ago, he was transferred to Mail Services. "Chad was a very low-key, very soft-spoken man," said Phil Falcone, a Mail Services supervisor. "He always had a quick smile, a good word for everyone." Mail Services Manager Janet Weatherill said Alexander would come into work every morning with a copy of the Philadelphia Daily News, a Tastykake and a Pepsi. After he died, his colleagues bought the snacks and the newspaper and placed them in a mail tub as a memorial. According to Coleman-Brown, Alexander's wife is two months pregnant. "He always wanted children because [his wife] was pregnant three times before and lost them," Coleman-Brown said. Coleman-Brown also said Alexander would frequently return to North Philadelphia, where he grew up, and help out his former neighbors by shoveling their walkways in the winter. In one case, he even paid the rent of a woman who was struggling to make ends meet. "He would give back to the people who helped him when he was growing up," Coleman-Brown said. Alexander is survived by his wife, parents and two brothers.