S. Phila. man is homicide No. 111

He was doing nothing more than standing in front of his own home, talking with a relative, as their school-age kids sat in the nearby parked car he had just left.

Then, at 5:35 p.m., a bullet struck the 56-year-old unidentified Asian man in the head.

He collapsed into a pool of his own blood as the female relative watched in horror and fear, with the car's driver-side door still wide open on Carlisle Street near Reed in South Philadelphia.

It was the 111th homicide in the city this year.

The man was pronounced dead in front of his home, cops said. His body lay for hours next to his stoop. Blood soaked through the white sheet covering him, the stains forming the image of a cross.

"He was literally just getting out of his vehicle with his family" when the bullet hit him, said Inspector Stephen Johnson of south patrol division.

At least seven shots were fired by one or more unknown gunmen, police said. One of the bullets also struck a 17-year-old boy in the left foot. The boy was taken to Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, where he was listed in stable condition, police said.

Johnson said the police investigation had just begun and cops did not have any solid leads on how and why the middle-aged man had been shot dead.

Cops did have their eye out for a car that was seen speeding away from the area, Johnson said, and detectives hoped that the surveillance camera of a nearby mental-health center recorded details of the ordeal.

Narcotics officers had spent the afternoon investigating drug dealers in the area, said one police official, who added that while it was slowly being revitalized due to the influx of Asian immigrants and young professionals, it still had its share of gun crime.

A group of gawkers crowded the line of yellow tape last night as crime-scene officers milled about. Diane Foster, 41, said she brought her 13-year-old son, Daquan, to watch the aftermath of a homicide so he could "see how it is" out on the streets.

"It is sad," said Daquan, as homicide detectives walked past him. "Soon we will all have to stay in the house all day." *