Suspect held in West Phila. bar killings

The Corral was one of those neighborhood bars frequented by a bunch of regulars, most of whom had known each other for years.

"We were all friends," said Rickie Abrams, the sometime-bartender, sometime-porter, who worked 10 years at the tavern at 5231 Market St. in West Philadelphia.

So Abrams could not explain on Tuesday what happened between Tyheem "Heemie" Melton and Troy Wimberley shortly before last call on April 6, 2012.

What he could say was that it ended in gunfire, with Melton running past him into the night while Wimberley, 38, and Crystal Shadding, 43, lay dead or dying on the floor.

The Corral closed for good afterward, Abrams said.

Abrams was the prosecution's only witness at a preliminary hearing, during which Municipal Court Judge Karen Y. Simmons held the Melton, 40, for trial on murder charges in the deaths of Wimberley and Shadding.

Abrams, 58, said he was at the door about 1:30 a.m., waiting for the last patrons to finish their drinks and leave, when he heard two shots.

"I turned around, and the big guy was holding a man by his neck and collar, and shooting him," Abrams testified.

Asked by Assistant District Attorney Brendan O'Malley to clarify, Abrams said, "Troy was on his knees, and Heemie was with the gun."

O'Malley said the autopsies showed that Wimberley was shot eight times, including in the chest and neck, and that Shadding had been shot once in the back.

Abrams, who glared at Melton when O'Malley asked him to point to the defendant, said he had known Melton and Wimberley about 10 years. He said he knew Shadding for about a year because she was dating a friend of his.

Defense attorney Francis Carmen focused on Abrams' statement that the two men appeared to be struggling and that Abrams did not see who fired those first two shots, suggesting Wimberley started the altercation.

Carmen's cocounsel, Susan Ricci, argued that Melton should not be held for trial in Shadding's death because Abrams did not testify that he saw Melton shoot her, and there was no bullet or fragment recovered to link her wound to Melton's gun.

O'Malley, however, argued that there was no other gun in the bar and the evidence was sufficient for Melton to stand trial for two counts of murder.

At the time of the shooting, police said they believed the incident was about drugs. Wimberley had been arrested numerous times, including for selling drugs, and in 2001 was sentenced to four to 10 years in prison after pleading guilty to voluntary manslaughter.

Melton also has a history of arrests for drugs and in 1995 was sentenced to six to 12 years in prison after pleading guilty to aggravated assault and a weapons charge.

After Melton fled the Corral on April 6, 2012, he was a fugitive for more than two years. He was arrested in October for speeding after a traffic stop in Tennessee and returned to Philadelphia for trial in the killings.