Teen arrested in delivery driver's murder

Police have arrested a 14-year-old boy on murder, robbery and related charges in last week's death of a Chinese deliveryman in Crescentville.

Sahmir Walker, 14, is being held without bail for allegedly gunning down Rendong Zheng, 49, of North Philly, at the Hill Creek Apartments during an attempted armed robbery, police said.

A second teen, Tyquail Duffy, 15, was charged with aggravated assault, terroristic threats, intimidating witnesses, gun offenses and other crimes, court records show. He was ordered held on $250,000 bail pending a May 14 preliminary hearing, records show. Duffy and Walker both live in the apartment complex, police said.

Authorities said the robbers shot at Zheng 12 times, hitting him once in the shoulder. He drove away but lost control of his car at Adams Avenue and Bingham Street, where he hit a fence and a pole, police said. He died at Einstein Medical Center at 11 p.m. that night.

The robbers got no cash or anything else in the incident, police said. Zheng was a delivery driver for the New China Restaurant on Rising Sun Avenue near Cheltenham.

Police spokeswoman Leeloni Palmiero and District Attorney spokesman Cameron Kline couldn't immediately say why Duffy wasn't charged with murder. Pennsylvania's felony-murder rule allows authorities to charge anyone with murder, even accomplices who didn't pull the trigger, if they committed a felony that resulted in someone's homicide. Pennsylvania law also requires anyone charged with murder, no matter how young, to be charged as an adult. An adult murder conviction carries a minimum sentence of life in prison without parole.