The second suspect in a Delco Wawa slaying on New Year’s Day was arrested
Prosecutors had been searching for Jahmier Council since Jan. 1, when they say he helped set up a deal to buy a pound of marijuana for $1,000.
U.S. Marshals have arrested the second of two men who Delaware County prosecutors say set up a drug deal in the parking lot of a Linwood Wawa, only to rob the sellers and leave one of them dead.
Jahmier Council and Zymear Jones lured three men to the Wawa on New Year’s Day, promising to buy a pound of marijuana for $1,000, prosecutors said. But the drug deal quickly devolved into a fight, they said, and Jones killed Nasir Allen as he struggled with Council.
Jones, 22, was arrested not long after the fatal shooting. But Council, 23, eluded police for months until Monday, when he was arrested by U.S. Marshals and county detectives at the Highland Motel in Chester.
Council has been charged with first- and third-degree murder, robbery, aggravated assault, and related offenses. He was denied bail, and there was no indication he had hired an attorney.
Police responding to reports of a shooting found Allen, 18, lying in the parking lot outside the Wawa on Jan. 1, according to court filings. He had been shot once in the back and was pronounced dead at the scene. A second shooting victim, whose identity police have not released, was shot in the back and taken to Crozier-Chester Medical Center. He later recovered.
Surveillance footage and interviews with witnesses revealed that Jones and Council had set up the drug transaction with Allen and two other men, according to the affidavit of probable cause for Council’s arrest. All five men met at the Wawa, and Council got into Allen’s vehicle to conduct the sale.
But Council tried to pay for the drug with counterfeit money. A fight then broke out as Council tried to steal the marijuana and got out of the car, the affidavit said.
Jones, standing nearby, shot Allen and another one of the sellers as they, too, got out of the car, according to investigators.
Jones has also been charged with first- and third-degree murder, robbery, aggravated assault, and firearms violations. He remains in custody at the George W. Hill Correctional Facility, awaiting a May preliminary hearing.