Two suspects apprehended in ‘execution-style’ killings of man and woman in East Fairmount Park

Philadelphia police said Tuesday that two suspects were in custody in connection with the “execution-style” fatal shootings of a man and woman in East Fairmount Park last week.

Deputy Police Commissioner Frank Vanore said police had a man and woman in custody and were questioning them about the killings. He declined to identify them, as they had not yet been charged in the case.

The victims have been identified as Thurston Cooper, 49, of the 1500 block of Chew Avenue, and Krystina Chambers, 38, of the 500 block of Devereaux Avenue.

Shortly before 11 p.m. Thursday, police responded to a report of a body on the 3800 block of Mount Pleasant Drive, half a block from the historic Mount Pleasant Mansion, which has been closed to the public since 2023.

Police found Chambers with gunshot wounds to the head and chest lying next to Cooper, who had a gunshot wound to the head. Both were unresponsive and pronounced dead at the scene.

Officers found three spent shell casings next to the bodies.

Vanore declined to discuss details of the case and said the motive remained under investigation.

A source with knowledge of the case, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said investigators believe that Cooper and Chambers had been at Tellups Tavern in Olney earlier in the night with the two suspects. Surveillance video shows Cooper and Chambers getting into the suspects’ car, a red KIA, to leave the bar, the source said, and video then shows that same KIA in the area of Mount Pleasant Drive around the time of the killings.

The source said that it was still not clear what happened among the four, but that some sort of disturbance unfolded inside the bar.