Ex-con charged in Northeast jeweler’s murder

This summer, Obina Onyiah finished the federal probation he earned after convictions for going on a month-long bank robbery spree in 2004.

But even before his probation expired, police believe, he was back in the robbery business.

Detectives said Onyiah was one of two gunman who attempted to rob William Glatz Jewelers in Northeast Philadelphia last month, but got into a shoot-out with the store's second-generation owner.

Owner Bill Glatz, 67, and would-be robber Kevin Turner, 22, were killed. Onyiah, 27, ran from the store and jumped into a waiting car, police said.

Onyiah, of the 5400 block of Akron Street, surrendered Wednesday and was held without bail, according to court records. He has been charged with murder and related offenses.

Police have not said what led detectives to Onyiah, but surveillance cameras at the jewelry store captured images of the second suspect, who was wearing a hoodie but did not conceal his face.

Glatz employees recognized both men because they had visited the store each of the two days before the Oct. 21 robbery attempt, authorities said.

Police continue to seek the driver of the getaway car.

Turner had escaped from the Curran-Fromhold Correctional Facility on Oct. 12 while working a night shift in the jail's kitchen.

Prison officials were not able to determine how he escaped, but they believe he may have hid in a truck leaving the loading dock adjacent to the kitchen.

On Oct. 18, police believe, Turner and an accomplice robbed the Cottman Gold Exchange, tying an employee with duct tape and escaping with jewelry and $2,400 in cash.

Police said Turner and his accomplice in the Glatz shoot-out fit the descriptions of the two Cottman robbers. Onyiah had not been charged with the Cottman robbery by Thursday, but court records showed that he was charged with a Dec. 26 robbery.

No other information on that robbery was available.

Six years ago, when Onyiah was living in Lindenwold, N.J., he and an accomplice robbed three banks and attempted to rob a fourth in Camden and Burlington Counties.

In each case, Onyiah passed a demand note to a teller and claimed to have a gun, but he never pulled a weapon.

Onyiah was sentenced in July 2005 to 37 months in prison and ordered to pay $73,273 in restitution. When his probation expired, Onyiah was unemployed and still owed $72,248, according to court records.

William Glatz Jewelers did business on Rising Sun Avenue for more than six decades, after being founded by Bill Glatz's father, a German immigrant.

Despite opening a second store in Bucks County, Bill Glatz refused to close his family's Philadelphia location, even as many other family-owned stores on "the Avenue" abandoned the city.

Glatz and his family's iconic store were revered in the neighborhood for their long tradition and loyalty to their roots.

The Lawncrest Ministerium, a multi-denominational body of neighborhood clergy, plans to hold a prayer vigil in front of the jewelers at noon on Nov. 20.

Ben Krey, pastor of Prince of Prince Lutheran Church, is one of the organizers. He said he did not know Glatz but "many of my parishioners have been deeply wounded by his death."

"If I serve the prince of peace in a community of violence, I feel there's something we have to say," Krey said.