Teens, 14 and 17, charged in murder of Navy vet, 87

Police have arrested a teenage boy and girl in connection with the fatal shooting of 87-year-old George Greaves in the city's Cedarbrook section last week.

India Spellman, 17, and Von Combs, 14, are charged with murder in Greaves' death Wednesday in the 7900 block of Pickering Street. The two set out to rob Greaves but shot him when Greaves "did not move fast enough," police said.

Greaves, a World War II Navy veteran, was pronounced dead on his driveway.

The teens are charged as adults. Any person 13 and older that is charged with murder is automatically charged as an adult. A judge can send any minor into the juvenile system, where the maximum age for incarceration is 21.

Spellman, of the 900 block of East Slocum Street, pulled the trigger, said Philadelphia Police Captain James Clark. Combs is from the 100 block of East Sharpnack Street.

The teenagers are also suspects in several other robberies, Clark said.

"It made me feel pretty sick," said Beth Morris, Greaves' second cousin, when she learned about the accused teens in a TV news report.

"There's nobody watching over them," said Morris, 48, of Abington. "They're punks. It's sad."

Greaves served as a Navy Seabee in Guam during World Ward II. He later worked at the Budd Co. plant in Nicetown, where he retired as a machinest. He spent weekends during the summer fishing at the Jersey Shore and winters in the Poconos at a house owned by relatives.

He was a fitness enthusiast and, for many years, a body builder. The afternoon he died, he had gone to work out at a gym in Elkins Park.

He lived alone and rarely had visitors.