A sixth YBC member was arrested overnight and will be charged with two murders
Hamzah Curry, 25, is expected to be extradited and charged with the killing of Qaadir Cheeks, as well as a 36-year-old bystander in 2021, officials said.
A sixth person associated with the Young Bag Chasers was arrested overnight and is expected to be charged with two homicides, prosecutors said.
Hamzah Curry, 25, was taken into custody Wednesday evening in Kansas City, Mo. after spending nearly a year on the run after the killing of a 36-year-old man in 2021.
Curry was also newly wanted in connection with the murder of Qaadir Cheeks, a 20-year-old better known as “55Qua” who was shot and killed near 55th Street and Baltimore Avenue in May 2024, said Assistant District Attorney Bill Fritze, supervisor of the Gun Violence Task Force in the District Attorney’s Office.
Curry is one of 19 people indicted by a grand jury as part of a sprawling investigation by Philadelphia police and prosecutors into years of retaliatory shootings between West Philadelphia gangs, Fritze said.
He will be charged once he is extradited to Philadelphia, he said.
Officials identified him as a member of Young Face Arrangers, or YFA, a younger subset of YBC. He is also the older brother of Arshad Curry, another YBC/YFA member who is serving 42½ to 85 years in prison for killing three people in 2021.
A warrant was issued for Curry’s arrest last spring after detectives tied him to the killing of Stangely Bertrand on the 300 block of North Salford Street on July 16, 2021.
Investigators believe Bertrand, who was shot in the head, was a bystander caught in the crossfire, according to a law enforcement source familiar with the investigation.
Salahuddin Carter, 21, another YBC/YFA member known as “YFA4our,” was arrested and charged with Bertrand’s death in June.
Carter was also charged Wednesday with two additional shootings — including the shooting of an 8-year-old near 13th and Oxford Streets in 2022 — as part of the indictment.
Investigators tied Carter and Curry to Bertrand’s killing after Carter, who was 16 at the time, was shot twice in the stomach during the exchange in gunfire, and Curry drove him to the hospital, according to the affidavit of probable cause for Carter’s arrest.
Inside Curry’s car, police found two 9mm handguns, blue latex gloves, and live rounds, the affidavit said. A ballistics report later showed that both guns were fired on Salford Street the night Bertrand was killed, the records say.
And then, this month, Curry was also sought for the killing of Cheeks, whom YBC members shot more than a dozen times in West Philadelphia.
Four others have been charged in that case: Stephen “Baby Yopp” Weddington, Jymir “Lil Mir” Burbage, Hasin Muse, and Tatiana Edwards.
The Philadelphia Police Department’s homicide fugitive task force and U.S. Marshals had been working to locate Curry since last year, and on Wednesday evening, found him at a motel in Missouri, the source said.