Police: 2 Brothers In Custody After Father Is Gunned Down Protecting Daughter
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Philadelphia police held a press conference Monday afternoon announcing the arrest of a pair of brothers suspected of murdering a father in the city's Spring Garden neighborhood.
Sixteen-year-old Marvin Roberts has been charged with murder, robbery, and related offenses for shooting and killing 38-year-old Gerry Grandzol, on Melon Street Thursday night.
Police say Marvin Roberts will be tried as an adult.
Roberts' brother Maurice was arrested in Budd Lake, New Jersey, just west of Newark.
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"He's awaiting a hearing in New Jersey for his extradition and he will be brought back to Philadelphia to face charges and be formally arraigned," Homicide Captain Jack Ryan explained.
Ryan says Grandzol was getting out of the car with his two-year-old daughter still inside, when he was approached by the pair of brothers.
That's when police say he was robbed of his wallet.
"He complies completely, doesn't resist. Mr. Grandzol then says that his two-year-old daughter is in the car. I believe they asked for the keys and then he was shot twice," Ryan said.
Detectives say they are still searching for the gun used in the murder.
"There's no accounting for what these two did, it's just a touch of evil," said Ryan.
Grandzol's death has pulled community activists from around the city to unite on the block where Grandzol was killed.
"These two slipped through the cracks. It's a shame that we couldn't have gotten to them before they decided to do what they decided to do," said a community activist, who attended a vigil for Grandzol on Monday night.
