iradiophilly | News - 9yo Boy Shooting Death Arrest; Philly Officials Cautious 'Yellow' Reopen; Kenny Drops Tax Increase

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9yo Boy Shooting Death Arrest; Philly Officials Cautious 'Yellow' Reopen; Kenny Drops Tax Increase

by: iradioal - Philadelphia, PA
started: 05/28/20 9:52 pm | updated: 05/28/20 9:52 pm

Philadelphia police have arrested a man in the shooting death of a 9-year-old boy in the city's Ogontz section on Tuesday night, 5/26. 30-year-old Syiede Booker is charged with involuntary manslaughter, endangering the welfare of a child, recklessly endangering another person, unsworn falsification, tampering with evidence and obstructing justice in the death of Rajib Ingram. It happened around 9:30 p.m. in the back bedroom of a home on the 5900 block of North 20th Street. Ingram was shot once in the face. He was rushed to Albert Einstein Medical Center where he died. Police found the weapon behind the home on Wednesday, 5/27. Officials say that Booker, who is the boy's mother's live-in boyfriend, left the gun where the child had access to it. Ingram then accidentally shot himself. Booker is being held on $1.1 million bail.

"I cannot begin to imagine the heartbreak of this child's mother, or the lifelong trauma of the 15-year-old who heard the deadly shot and found his young brother's body. Kids and firearms do not belong anywhere near each other. I'm again urging Philadelphians with guns at home to keep them locked and out of reach of children," Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner said in a statement.

Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney said on Thursday, 5/28, that "no restaurant should be announcing plans to launch outdoor dining on June 5." Governor Wolf had announced that next Friday, 6/5, outdoor dining would be permitted throughout the state in counties designated 'yellow' or 'green.' "Outdoor dining, done properly in the midst of a pandemic, is extremely complicated," said Kenney. "It obviously needs to adhere to social distancing guidelines. But we also need to ensure that the public right of way is respected, and that those with disabilities are not hindered. And we need to ensure that outdoor dining protocols are equitable-that they work as well in Juniata and East Oak Lane as they do in Center City." Kenney said that the city expects to release guidelines for outdoor dining sometime next week. "We are still determining how this will work in Philadelphia. I don't want our business owners getting ahead of the regulations and preparing for outdoor dining next week," said Kenney.

Philadelphia officials plan to release their own detailed reopening plan on Friday, 5/29, for the city to move into the 'yellow' phase by next Friday, June 5. Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf announced last week that the Southeastern region of the state would move into the 'yellow' phase, joining the rest of the state by next Friday. Philadelphia officials have been cautious about that seemingly accelerated timeline, warning that the city 'may' not reach that goal. "If the numbers continue down, we will go to yellow on June 5, but I want to just reserve the possibility that if numbers get bad, we may not go there," Philadelphia health commissioner Dr. Thomas Farley said. One of the main criteria set by the Wolf administration's reopening plan was that a region should fall to 50 total new cases/100,000 people over two weeks. None of the counties in the region are even near that metric. PA Health Secretary Dr. Rachel Levine said last week that as testing and contact tracing abilities have increased that total case metric has become less critical. Mayor Jim Kenney plans a partial reopening of the economy if the downward trends continue. "It's complicated, but simple. We don't want people to get sick and die, thats what we're worried about," Kenney said. "You have to determine whether the economy is more important than people's lives."

Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney has scrapped a 4% property tax increase in his proposed FY 2021 budget. Kenney wrote a letter to City Council on Thursday explaining that the tax was no longer needed because the Philadelphia School District would be receiving more funding than expected in a budget approved by the Pennsylvania General Assembly this week. "This funding would eliminate the District's FY21 deficit and obviates the need for an increase in the Real Estate tax rate at this time," Kenney wrote Council. "The School District still faces a substantial deficit during their Five-Year Plan which will require all of us, working with our partners in the General Assembly, to address in the future." Parking tax and non-resident wage tax increases are still included in the proposed budget. City Council is in the middle of budget hearings for the next two weeks.