Three men charged in two 2014 murders

Police arrested two suspected murderers in unrelated cases this week.

In the first case, Ryan Kane, 25, of Ashburner Street near Glenloch in Holmesburg, was charged with third-degree murder and related crimes for the Dec. 20 death of Ryan Brown, 24, of Tacony Street near Orthodox in Frankford, said Officer Christine O'Brien, a police spokeswoman. Police responded to Vandike Street near Benner in Wissinoming just before 2 a.m. that night for a report of a burglary. Once there, officers discovered Brown, who had been stabbed in the thigh, unresponsive and called for paramedics, who declared him dead on the scene at 2:07 a.m.

Investigators later determined Kane stabbed Brown during a fight, O'Brien said.

In the second case, Terrence Brown, 20, and Lavar Chester, 21, are accused of shooting Michael Lofton, 25, to death March 1 on 24th Street near Diamond in North Philly. Officers responding to a report of a shooting just after 10 p.m. that night found Lofton, who lived a block away on Glenwood Avenue, lying facedown on teh sidewalk bleeding from several gunshot wounds, O'Brien said. He died on March 3 at Temple University Hospital.

Brown, who lived on the same block as Lofton, and Chester, who lived on Diamond Street near 24th, are charged with murder and related offenses.