Family of paralyzed boy say they're under threat

The mother of a boy who was shot and paralyzed in Strawberry Mansion three years ago contends that a judge isn't taking threats against her family seriously.

Alicia Wright's son, Jabar, was 6 in January 2006, when he was hit by a bullet as he sat in his grandfather's car, and was paralyzed from the neck down.

The shooters were said to have been targeting the grandfather, Benjamin Wright, over a dispute. Three men were convicted of attempted murder, but tensions between both sides still appear to be boiling.

Yesterday at a status-of-probation hearing for Larue McDaniel, who had pleaded guilty to witness intimidation in the case, Police Detective Justin Montgomery testified that Benjamin Wright's 13-year-old daughter was kidnapped in May and taken for a frightening, four-hour ride before being released unharmed.

Police and the Wright family think that McDaniel, 22, may have been involved in the kidnapping.

Montgomery, of South Detectives, told Common Pleas Judge Rayford Means that about 4 p.m. May 19, Aneena Wright was forced into a vehicle at gunpoint on Tasker Street near 25th, in South Philly.

The three men in the vehicle then drove her around the city, asking her questions about her father, he said.

Montgomery testified that he doesn't believe that McDaniel was in the car, but thinks that he "had a very strong influence in organizing that abduction." McDaniel is a person of interest and "is number one on that list," Montgomery said.

McDaniel has been on house arrest following his sentencing in December on intimidation charges. On April 27, 2006, he and Eddie Bivens confronted and threatened Alicia Wright, 26, and her then-husband outside the Family Court building, 18th and Vine streets, after a preliminary hearing in the shooting case was postponed, authorities have said.

Bivens' trial on the intimidation charges was postponed yesterday to Dec. 1.

Probation Officer Gretchen Schmidt told the judge yesterday that McDaniel tested positive for marijuana on five occasions from December to April. He is now receiving treatment, and tested negative three other times, she said.

Means yesterday ordered that McDaniel be placed on another six months of house arrest for violating his probation.

He heard Alicia and Benjamin Wright testify about their family's fear, but he noted that police have not arrested McDaniel in the kidnapping.

An angry Alicia Wright, who wanted the judge to lock McDaniel up, fumed afterward:

"I think the judge is waiting for him [McDaniel] to really blow my brains out."

Jabar was shot as Benjamin was driving on Westmont Street near 29th. Also in the car were Benjamin's wife, LaRhonda, and Aneena, then 10.

A jury in December 2007 convicted Raheem Collins, Collins' cousin Donte Rollins and Christopher Powell of attempted murder and related offenses.

Means later sentenced each of the three to 62 1/2 to 125 years in prison. *