Philly: Shots fired into crowd outside club kill 2, injure 3

"This is my home now," Genene Gaskin said as she relit a candle at a curbside memorial for her son yesterday.

The memorial, across the street from Club Polaris at 9th Street near Buttonwood, was erected in memory of Gaskin's son, 15-year-old Daemel "Mel" Gaskin, and 21-year-old Stanley "Stizz" Wilson.

Both young men died early Saturday after a gunman fired into a crowd of more than 100 people gathered outside the club.

Three other men, all in their 20s, were wounded and reported in stable condition yesterday.

In the wake of the shootings, the city's Department of Licenses and Inspections shut down Club Polaris. On a "cease operations/stop work order" posted outside the club, numerous violations were listed, including no licenses, overcrowding and shootings. The order also listed violations of the city's zoning, electrical and fire codes. The cease-operations order declares the place a "public nuisance."

Police said a disturbance inside of the club spilled outside shortly after 2 a.m. Saturday as the establishment was shutting its doors. One of the injured victims may have been the target of the attack, said Sgt. Ray Evers, a police spokesman. Wilson and Gaskin appear to have been innocent bystanders, police said.

Gaskin had showed up only moments before the shooting, having walked from his nearby home to "holler" at pretty young women as they left the club, his best friend, Jamar Allen, 16, said.

"I stayed home that night," Allen said. "He said he'd be back, but he never came back."

Gaskin, a sophomore at Benjamin Franklin High School, was a quiet boy who didn't talk to a lot of people, Allen said. He enjoyed basketball, football and "just being funny."

"It ain't right that he got killed over something he didn't have nothing to do with," Allen said. "It was a shock because that was my best friend. I'll miss everything about him."

Genene Gaskin said her son was a "lovable person" who cared deeply for others. She was desperately determined yesterday that the killer be found before her son's funeral, which she hopes to schedule for Friday.

"His murderer will be found before I close the casket on my son," she said. "It's a nightmare. I wake up every morning screaming. They used to tell me I need help. Somebody better tell me what I need now."

Sheila Thompson and her husband, Gary, were dumbfounded by the randomness of the shootings. Wilson was like a second son to them, they said. They had known the young man since birth and were his immediate neighbors in the city's West Oak Lane section.

"I never thought I would be doing this," Sheila Thompson said, as she laid a bouquet of flowers at the memorial.

The Thompsons' son was standing directly next to Wilson when he was shot, they said.

"They were just walking out of the club from this private party," Gary Thompson said. "The next thing you know, he's gone. This is a total waste of a good life." Wilson was a student at Community College of Philadelphia who was pursing an accounting degree, according to the Thompsons. He enjoyed video games, basketball, football and watching after his younger brothers.

"He wasn't one of these street guys who didn't want to do anything with his life," Sheila Thompson said. "He was the nicest young man you could've wanted to meet. He was well-mannered and well-spoken."

Wilson suffered gunshot wounds to his mouth and buttocks and was pronounced dead at the scene, police said.

Gaskin was shot in the chest and pronounced dead at Hahnemann University Hospital at 2:38 a.m.

Other victims include a 20-year-old man who was shot in the foot, a 23-year-old man who was shot in the thigh, and a 21-year-old man who was shot in the leg. All were listed in stable condition, police said. Their names have not been released.

No arrests have been made in the case, but police noted that witnesses had been cooperative.

"From my understanding, it's not going to be a hard one to solve," Evers said. *