A North Philly gang hit man, ‘the very worst’ of society, taken into custody for three killings, officials say
U.S. Marshals arrested Tyvine Jones early Wednesday in Lansdowne. Investigators say he is tied to three murders in the city.
A North Philadelphia street-gang hit man wanted in connection with three killings, including the execution-style shooting of a 16-year-old boy, was taken into custody Wednesday morning in Delaware County, officials said.
Tyvine “Blumberg Eerd” Jones, 25, was apprehended by U.S. marshals in an apartment where he had been hiding at the Stratford Court complex in Lansdowne, authorities said. Jones was considered one of the city’s most wanted fugitives, and in October, marshals issued a $5,000 reward for information leading to his arrest.
Eric Gartner, the United States marshal for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, said Jones’ “unrestrained existence serves only to diminish our great city,” and his arrest demonstrates the agency’s commitment to keep Philadelphians safe.
Investigators say Jones is a suspect in three slayings that took place between 2020 and 2022: the killings of Heyward Garrison, 16, Wesley Rodwell, 20, and Ryan Findley, 23.
Jones is a self-identified member of the Blumberg gang, which federal prosecutors say operates in the area around the now-shuttered Norman Blumberg Apartments on Oxford Street in North Philadelphia.
Members of the gang, including its onetime leader, Edward Stinson, have been convicted of drug trafficking in that area, and others have been tied to assaults and shootings.
Stinson, federal prosecutors wrote in court filings, ran a round-the-clock crack cocaine distribution ring that sucked in teenagers, single mothers, and other vulnerable people.
Jones was an associate of Anthony “Blumberg Geez” Watson, and the two recorded rap songs together. In one song, “Blow Up,” the two brag about stalking and shooting their criminal rivals.
Like Jones, Watson, 21, was sought by investigators as a suspect in Garrison’s killing, but he was gunned down in an unrelated shooting after a year on the run.
Garrison was found shot multiple times in the back of a Honda Pilot parked near 22nd and Diamond Streets in August 2020.
Two years later, in May 2022, Rodwell was slain on Erie Avenue near 16th Street in a broad-daylight shooting.
And in September 2022, Findley was killed on Creston Street near Oakland in Oxford Circle.
Investigators say Jones was involved in all three killings. When announcing the reward for his arrest, Supervisory Deputy U.S. Marshal Robert Clark called Jones “the very worst society has to offer” and said he demonstrated a complete disregard for human life.