Police in Philadelphia revealed Sunday that one of the five victims they initially reported had been killed in a mass shooting that rocked the state this week was in fact killed nearly two days prior.
Joseph Wamah, Jr. was still murdered by the suspected gunman, Kimbrady Carriker, Philadelphia police told The Daily Beast in a statement, but investigations following the mass shooting incident—where four people were shot dead in southwest Philadelphia on June 3 in a seemingly random act of violence—revealed that Wamah had been murdered on June 2, approximately 44 hours beforehand.
Wamah was the only one of the five initial victims that were gunned down inside a house.
Police cited an unidentified source, corroborated by the Philadelphia Medical Examiner’s Office, for the twist. They also cited “additional evidence,” including a 911 call at approximately 2:00 a.m. on the morning of 7/2/22 “reporting gunshots in the area of 1600 South 56th Street.”
The call came about 90 minutes after it is believed Wamah was killed.
However when the 911 call was logged, the address was incorrectly logged as 1600 block of North 56th Street, instead of 1600 block of South 56th Street. When police arrived at the wrong address, predictably, they found nothing wrong.
“Because this call was entered as 1600 North 56th Street, Philadelphia Police Radio was unable to immediately identify any calls for reports of gunshots in the area of 1600 South 56th Street,” police said.
The investigation is ongoing.
After killing Wamah, Carriker waited almost two days before opening fire across four city blocks while wearing body armor and a ski mask. He was also using a police scanner in a bid to avoid authorities.
Police later revealed Carriker was wielding an AR-15 style assault rifle and appeared to be firing randomly at people on the street or in their car.
On Sunday, Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner told NBC “the grieving family of the deceased has been briefed on this new information, and I cannot express enough the sorrow I feel—and that surely all the officers and detectives working on this investigation must feel—that these developments may be confusing and re-traumatizing for Mr. Wamah’s loved ones,” Krasner wrote.
“This new information, however, has not changed the number or type of charges we have filed against defendant Carriker: the Commonwealth alleges that he is responsible for the death of Mr. Wamah on July 2, 2023. This new information will lead the Commonwealth to amend or modify the timing alleged in the complaint against Carriker for the murder of Mr. Wamah from July 3, 2023, to July 2, 2023.”
Appearing in court on Wednesday, Carriker claimed he began his deadly spree to help address the city’s gun violence crisis because “all these guys are out there killing people.” He was arraigned on five counts of murder, attempted murder, aggravated assault and weapons counts of possession without a license and carrying firearms in public.