BY DAVE GAMBACORTA OF THE DAILY NEWS Police say it was during this routine stroll that the lives of Leon [Harris, 17], an honor student at Upper Darby High School, and Michael and her brothers intersected.
At 9:47 p.m., Michael’s brothers Breon Jones, 15, and Ronald Johnson, 17, jumped out of the SUV and
approached Leon. Police say they asked him for cash – he had none – and told him to get into an alley.
Frightened for his life, Leon turned and ran. Jones shot him once in the back, police said. Leon fell; the bullet had hit his spine, leaving him paralyzed from the chest down.
A handful of neighbors witnessed the shooting and called 911 with vivid descriptions of the SUV and the shooter. Police captured the four shortly after.
“This is a sad commentary on our urban American society,” an outraged Upper Darby Police Superintendent Michael Chitwood said yesterday.
“Here’s a kid who’s a good, decent human being, doing the right things, going to school, and then you have these punks and street hoodlums destroying his life for pure evil.”
Chitwood said Michael, 27; her boyfriend, Bryan Veney, 19; Jones and Johnson — all from Collingdale — were charged with attempted murder, robbery, weapons violations and related offenses. The teens are being charged as adults.
DAILY NEWS: What A Colossal Waste Of Five Young Lives