2-year-old clings to life after shooting

FROM HIS WHEELCHAIR, a crying man taped a teddy bear over two bullet holes in his neighbor's door in Chester yesterday.

"Kids don't need to see that," he said, shaking his head.

The man, who asked to be identified only as "Tate," was stunned by the early-morning shootings of his next-door neighbors, Tisheta Green, 25, Thomas Webster, 26, and their son, 2-year-old Terrence Webster.

Last night, Terrence remained in critical condition at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia with a bullet wound to his head, police said.

His parents, who were treated at another hospital for their injuries and released, were by his side at the Philadelphia hospital, family and friends said.

Police said that the shooting occurred about 2:30 a.m. as the three, along with another of Green's children, were entering their home in a housing project along West Ninth Street.

Green's other next-door neighbor, who asked not to be identified, said that she heard Green fiddling with her keys downstairs before she heard a series of gunshots.

"Then I just heard screaming: 'Help me! Help me! My baby! My baby!' " the neighbor said Green shouted.

The neighbor said she ran downstairs and saw Green cradling her bleeding son. The neighbor then jumped with Green and her son into a nearby police cruiser, she said.

At that point, Terrence was awake and clinging to her shirt, according to the neighbor.

"I told him, 'Just keep holding on, little baby,' " she said.

The neighbor said Green didn't even realize she had been shot in the left leg until she arrived at Crozer-Chester Medical Center, in Upland, Delaware County.

Thomas Webster drove himself to the hospital, where it was discovered he'd been shot in the left hand, police said.

Both were treated for their injuries as their son was stabilized at Crozer-Chester. Then he was taken to Children's Hospital, and his parents were brought there to be by his side, police said.

Aside from her 2-year-old son, another of Green's three children was also present when the shooting occurred but managed to escape uninjured, neighbors said.

Green's neighbors said they all went to church yesterday morning to pray for her son.

Tate, a single parent who was shot by a stray bullet in 1996 and remains in a wheelchair, said that Terrence was known as "Lil' Pop" because he loved Pop-Tarts and water ice.

"He's the best little guy around," he said. "Who would do something senseless like that?"

Tate said that he filled his fridge Saturday night with Little Hugs fruit drinks for Terrence and the other kids. Now, he wonders if he'll ever be able to give Terrence a hug again.

Friends and neighbors said Green had suffered through another tragedy in April when her brother, Thomas Lee "Bear-Bear" Green Jr., 23, was fatally shot, allegedly by his 16-year-old friend, Omar Rashad Hooks, of Chester Township.

That occurred just one-third of a mile from where yesterday's shootings took place, police said. Hooks has been arrested and charged with murder and related offenses.

Police have not released a motive or descriptions of suspects in yesterday's shooting.

Anyone with information about these shootings is urged to call Chester Police at 610-447-7813, the Chester City Anonymous Tip Line at 610-447-7810 or the Delaware County Criminal Investigation Division at 610-891-4700.