Police ID two murder victims

The victims of recent violence were identified today by police as investigators continue to probe their murders.

Jonathan Rodriguez, 20, and Jerry Keith Lawson III, 22, were slain hours apart Tuesday in unrelated incidents.

Officers found Rodriguez lying facedown on the pavement, shot in his chest and arm just before 11 p.m. on Wishart Street near Front in Kensington, not far from his home on Clearfield Street near 7th in North Philly.

Medics took him to Temple University Hospital, where he was pronounced dead minutes later, police said.

Earlier in the day, police found Lawson lying wounded in the wake of an apparent gunbattle on Stiles Street near 16th in North Philly.

Lawson, of Delancey Street near 55th in West Philly, had been shot in the head and was pronounced dead at the scene, police said. Another man, 25, remained at the scene with a leg wound and was taken to Hahnemann University Hospital and placed in stable condition.

No arrests have been made in either case, and police haven't released any information on motive or suspects.

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