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Friends and family mourn Pat’s Steaks shooting victim David Padro Jr. in a vigil Sunday night

Funeral services for the Camden resident are planned for Thursday. He was pronounced dead shortly after being shot in the shoulder and abdomen last Thursday during an argument at Pat's King of Steaks.

David Padro, in black shirt, embraces family during a vigil Sunday for his son David Padro Jr., who was killed outside Pat’s Steaks in South Philadelphia. Friends and family gathered for a vigil there. A Reading man is charged with murder.
David Padro, in black shirt, embraces family during a vigil Sunday for his son David Padro Jr., who was killed outside Pat’s Steaks in South Philadelphia. Friends and family gathered for a vigil there. A Reading man is charged with murder.Read moreYONG KIM / Staff Photographer
    by Diane Mastrull
    Updated 
    Published 

At the cheesesteak stand in South Philly where David Padro Jr. was shot to death last week, family and friends gathered Sunday evening for a vigil as they prepared for a funeral later this week.

Padro, 22, who lived in Camden and had a passion for day trading and entrepreneurship, was in Philadelphia early Thursday morning with his girlfriend to go to a nightclub when they stopped to eat at Pat’s King of Steaks.

During an argument that, according to the District Attorney’s Office, was over a parking space, Paul C. Burkert, 36, from Reading, pulled out a gun and shot Padro in the shoulder and abdomen, then fled before turning himself in to National Park Police at Independence Mall.

Padro was pronounced dead shortly after 1 a.m. at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital.

His funeral is planned for Thursday, one week from his slaying in a city that had recorded 314 homicides through Saturday, up 32% over the same time last year, and more people than were killed in all of 2016, according to police statistics.

A viewing is scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. Thursday at First Spanish Baptist Church, 6629 Chandler Ave., Pennsauken, followed by an 11 a.m. memorial service, according to a Facebook post by family.

A GoFundMe campaign for funeral expenses had raised more than $9,100 of the $15,000 goal as of Sunday afternoon.

Burkert is being held without bail at the Curran-Fromhold Correctional Facility, charged with murder and weapons offenses, including illegal possession of a firearm, according to court records. He pleaded guilty in 2019 to a felony drug charge in Berks County and was prohibited from having a firearm, records show.

A preliminary hearing in Padro’s killing has been scheduled for Aug. 9. According to court records, Burkert is represented by A. Charles Peruto Jr.