Five charged in 2024 Eid al-Fitr shooting in West Philadelphia
Investigators traced a ghost gun found at the scene of the shooting at an Eid al-Fitr celebration last April back to a gun manufacturing ring in Delaware County, authorities said.
Five people — including two juveniles — acted as straw purchasers or manufactured ghost guns in Delaware County, including one used in a shooting that wounded two and sent an Eid al-Fitr celebration into chaos outside a West Philadelphia mosque last year, authorities said Monday.
Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner said the five had been charged with gun crimes.
Chase Freas, 18, of Woodlyn, faces six counts of sale or transfer of firearms and related crimes; Nicholas Luciani, 26, was charged with possessing a prohibited offensive weapon; and 21-year-old Shane Scott was charged with sale or transfer of firearms and related crimes. Krasner said authorities were still searching for Scott.
The district attorney’s office did not name the juveniles or say what specific charges they faced.
Investigators traced a Polymer 80 ghost gun found at the scene of the April 2024 shooting at Clara Muhammad Square to a gun manufacturing ring run out of a basement in Delaware County, said Assistant District Attorney Marianne Aguilar, the lead prosecutor on the case and a member of the office’s Gun Violence Task Force.
The investigation uncovered text messages coordinating illegal gun purchases and trafficking, including the purchase of a gun-building kit for a Polymer 80, and gun-making materials were found at Freas’ home, prosecutors said.
The arrests come nearly a year after gunfire erupted at the park across the street from the Philadelphia Masjid as hundreds gathered for an Eid al-Fitr celebration marking the end of Ramadan. A 22-year-old man and a 15-year-old boy were wounded, and a second 15-year-old who authorities said had a gun was shot by a responding officer.
Police recovered five guns — four handguns and a rifle.
Last April, Gia Bruce, Brandon Fisher, Qasir Bradley, and Abdul Allen, who were all 15 or 16 years old at the time of the shooting, were charged with assault and related crimes, along with firearms violations. A fifth person, Kahbir Oglesby-Hicks, 22, pleaded guilty to firearms charges in October and was sentenced to probation.
The latest charges come as Muslims in the city and beyond prepare for the start of Ramadan, a holy month of fasting and prayer. Imam Jamil Abdullah, of the Philadelphia Masjid, said they would do so undeterred by last year’s violence and heartened that those involved in the shooting had been apprehended.
“We’re not intimidated. We’re not afraid,” he said. “There’s nothing to hide from. There’s nothing to run from.”