Philadelphia Police arrested College junior Bryan Warner on Wednesday, alleging that he shot a man Jan. 26 at a deli at 52nd and Spruce streets.
CBS 3 News reported yesterday that Warner has been charged with attempted murder, aggravated assault and related offenses. The shooting apparently stemmed from an argument between customers, CBS reported.
Philadelphia Police Sgt. Charles Layton said that the victim of the shooting -- who was struck in the leg -- picked out Warner's image from a set of photographs.
Layton could offer little further information, and police did not respond to repeated requests for additional comment last night.
Officials at Penn's Division of Public Safety also declined to comment.
After arresting Warner, city officers spent several hours late Wednesday night at his residence -- the St. Elmo's fraternity house on 37th and Locust streets, where he is a brother -- waiting for a warrant that would authorize them to search Warner's room, fraternity members said.
When the police eventually searched the room, they found no evidence, according to Layton.
St. Elmo's members say they were surprised by the arrest and are confident that Warner will soon be cleared of all charges.
"I know Bryan, and absolutely no part of me believes he could have had anything to do with any of the proceedings they're investigating," said St. Elmo's member and College junior Kellyn Goler.
Some fraternity members said that they believe this is a case of racial profiling.
"I know for a fact that if he were a white guy that came with the same background as Bryan, there's no chance that he would be in jail for two days," fraternity member and College sophomore Yasmin Radjy said.
According to fraternity brother Matthew Hill, the police obtained Warner's mug shot last year when he was arrested in connection with a fight. Though Warner was cleared of any wrongdoing in that incident, police apparently kept his photograph on record, Hill said.
As for the police presence in the fraternity house, Hill said that the officers were "extremely rude" and refused to answer any questions about Warner's situation.
Hill added that at all times during the four to five hours the police were at the house, there were at least three officers present, with four or five there at some points.
In the several hours police spent at the house before obtaining a search warrant, Hill said that they guarded Warner's room to prevent anyone from disturbing potential evidence.
Fraternity members said that the allegations are inconsistent with Warner's character.
St. Elmo's brother and College senior Kent Warren described Warner as a smart, nice, "normal guy."
"I'd be a character witness for him any day," said fraternity member and College senior Lauren Weinstein.
Warren added that he had not noticed any change in Warner's behavior since Jan. 26, the day the shooting occurred.
"Until [Wednesday], everyone thought everything was normal," Warren said.
Warren added that there's also a sense of "general anger" in the fraternity.
"Everyone in this house [is] 100 percent sure that Bryan's done nothing wrong," he said.
