Body found in Frankford

Police are investigating the slaying of a man who was found with two gunshot wounds to the chest in a Frankford alley about 9:30 a.m. yesterday.

The body was found under overgrown weeds between rowhouses on Margaret and Wilmot streets, near Torresdale Avenue.

The victim, a Hispanic male who police believe was in his mid-20s, had not been identified.

"There are gunshots every night, or every other night," said Yvonne Flores, 40, who lives on the block. "You go to sleep and you don't know what's going on."

Flores and other neighbors described the block, especially the alleys behind homes, as a high-crime drug area.

"They can kill anybody back there and throw them in the weeds," said Marianne Sands, 41, another resident of the block, who added that most crimes there are drug-related. She echoed Flores' account that gunshots are a regular occurrence in the area.

No arrests have been made.

Meanwhile, police identified the victim of East Mount Airy's Monday night slaying as Herman James Atkins Jr., 37, of Milton Street near Cliveden.

Atkins was found shot twice in the leg and once in the shoulder near his home about 10:30 p.m. Monday and was believed to be the victim of a robbery.

Atkins' family members declined to comment yesterday. *