Youth shot and killed near movie set identified

An 18-year-old gunned down yesterday in East Frankford, just steps away from where scenes from the mob thriller "Dead Man Down" is filming, has been identified.

Police say Robert Sneed, 18, of the 1800 block of Widener Place in East Germantown was most likely shot during an argument. But no charges have yet been filed against three men taken into custody.

Sneed was killed as at least six shots rang out at Tackawanna and Kinsey streets about 4 p.m. Monday, just after the youth stepped outside a corner grocery store, cops said. He was hit three times in the torso and staggered about half a block to the Kinsey and Ditman streets before collapsing.

Sneed was taken to Temple University Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 5:16 p.m., said police. Six shell casings marked the scene where the gunfire erupted. Production assistants for the film, along with police traffic units to enforce temporary parking restrictions, arrived on the block.

The oddity of the situation wasn't lost on a production assistant, Sean Traynor, 25.

"Dead man down," Traynor said, shaking his head, as he waited with other crew members outside the filming location at Global Dye Works, on Worth Street near Kinsey, about a block from where the murder victim fell. "Irony." Colin Farrell is scheduled to be filmed at the same location today.

A witness saw the shooter run north on Tackawanna Street and enter a house with two other men, Chief Inspector Scott Small said. The witness alerted police to the address, and they took all three into custody and found a handgun in a closet inside the house.

Police were interviewing the three men Monday night and working to determine if the weapon that police found was the one used in the slaying.

Another movie-crew member, Chase B., said he had been scoping out the area and setting up Monday afternoon when gunfire erupted. As he watched medics work on the bloodied shooting victim, he pulled out his camera to film.

"It's pretty surreal," he said. "It all just happened ... it's crazy."

Scott Faust, another production assistant for "Dead Man Down," said when he arrived Monday night to begin setting up that he was shocked to come across a real murder scene.

"It makes you take things a little more seriously," said Faust, 28. "What drives people to literally say, 'I'm gonna make sure you no longer breathe'? That's just a lot of weight."

In the film, about a woman seeking revenge on a crime boss, Philly's streets are used as a substitute for New York. The movie is filled with shooting scenes, and several of them have been filmed in Philly, including one at 17th and Walnut streets last week.

"Dead Man Down" coproducer Joseph Zolfo told CBS 3 Monday morning that Philadelphia is a great place to film because the city is more accepting of staged gun battles. n

Contact Morgan Zalot at 215-854-5928 or zalotm@phillynews.com.