Collection-jar theft mars vigil for shooting victim

NEIGHBORS OF Franklin Manuel Santana, the man shot dead in Tacony last week in a dispute over dog droppings, held a small vigil in his honor outside his apartment last night. But the gathering was tainted by more sadness: A collection jar put in a corner store for Santana's family ended up in the wrong hands.

Pat Batista, a neighbor who started the collection jar, said that when she went Monday to collect the donations from the Queen Grocery, at Torresdale and Magee avenues, down the street from where Santana was killed, a store employee told her that somebody had already picked it up.

Batista and other neighbors working to help Santana's wife, Raquel Borges, and their two daughters were suspicious.

"I told them, 'No one's gonna take this but me,' " Batista said. "I'm in total shock."

Batista said that she would go to police about the missing money today. She hoped that a surveillance video might show who took the jar.

A man working in the store last night said he didn't know who had picked up the jar, which Batista estimated contained $20 to $50, based on how much had been donated daily.

Two candles and a stuffed bear marked the porch of the home where Santana lived, as Batista and next-door neighbor Charlene Schoenherr talked on the phone to Raquel Borges, who traveled to New York to be with relatives early this week, assuring her that some money would be collected for her.

Schoenherr said that an account in Raquel's name was set up at TD Bank. Batista said that she planned to name the donation account "The Roxxanne Fund" after Santana's daughter.

When a handful of neighbors and friends gathered, Batista sang "Amazing Grace" a cappella.

Fran Fogarty, 45, who witnessed Santana's murder last week, said that he's missed among neighbors.

"It killed me to see that," Fogarty said.

Her husband, Damon Smith, 32, who also witnessed the shooting, said of Santana: "He was a very nice guy."