Teen accused of killing a 16-year-old in a shooting on a crowded SEPTA subway platform to face trial

In the chaos after a shooting on a crowded SEPTA subway platform that left a 16-year-old dead, the gunman almost got away, a prosecutor said in court Wednesday.

Quadir Humphrey, 18, was briefly detained after questioning by transit police in the subway concourse after the Jan. 11 shooting that left Tyshaun Welles dead, Assistant District Attorney Anthony Voci said. But moments later, surveillance footage helped officers identify Humphrey as the shooter, and he was taken back into custody.

Humphrey, the prosecutor said, fired a gun into a crowd of young people who had just left LevelUp, a neighborhood youth organization. One of the bullets struck Welles in the head.

After days fighting for his life, Welles died Jan. 16, after doctors determined that he was brain-dead and his family decided to take him off life support.

Multiple video clips Voci played in court showed the sequence of events that January night, as the group of young people talked and waited for a train.

In clips from different camera angles, the crowd of more than 20 teens was seen milling about on the westbound platform seconds before a gun was fired, causing the group to scatter. When the crowd cleared, Welles was seen lying motionless on the subway platform, at the edge of the tracks.

As the footage rolled in the courtroom, Welles’ mother, Racquel Clark, lowered her head, and tears ran down her face. And others in the group of Welles’ family and friends — many of whom wore jackets and sweatshirts with his face painted on them — began to cry.

One video clip from the moments immediately after the shooting showed Humphrey being pushed to the ground and handcuffed by transit police. Seconds later, an officer was seen unlocking the cuffs.

But SEPTA Police Sgt. Bryan Carney, who was monitoring surveillance cameras, sent his colleagues an image of the suspect, and an officer held the phone up to Humphrey’s face in a FaceTime call with Carney, who told them he was the shooter. He was quickly back in custody.

There was “no doubt” as to who fired the fatal shot, Carney said in court Wednesday.

Municipal Court Judge Patrick Dugan held Humphrey for trial on charges of homicide, aggravated assault, and related crimes. Prosecutors withdrew a conspiracy charge because in February they dropped charges against a teen initially identified as a second suspect in the case.

One of Humphrey’s lawyers, Roger Schrading, said that while Humphrey’s actions showed extreme recklessness, he had no intention to kill.

”This was a classic example of firing into a crowd,” he said.

But Voci countered that shooting into a group of people showed a disregard for their lives and safety.

“It is literally only by the grace of God that teenagers and individuals in the front were not struck by the bullets fired,” he said.

Clark, who said her son was a role model for his six younger siblings, wanted prosecutors to “make an example” of Humphrey by pursuing a first-degree murder charge. Because of Humphrey, Clark said, her son would never see his graduation day or go to a prom.

“I don’t want no mercy” for Humphrey, she said after the hearing. “I don’t want no ‘Oh he was a teenager.’ He wasn’t a teenager. A teenager don’t walk onto a platform full of kids with an extended clip and a gun.”