Relatives grieve for 3 slain in Mill Creek holdup

All morning and afternoon, mourners drifted in and out of Lina Sanchez's home on Parrish Street. Relatives embraced, friends brought food, and at times, the sound of sobbing drifted out from the porch.

It seemed everyone in the West Philadelphia neighborhood wanted to pay respects to Porfirio Nunez, his wife, Carmen, and his sister, Sanchez, who were gunned down in their family store Tuesday in a robbery police described as "an assassination."

Lina Sanchez's son, Javish, 29, sat in the living room, numb, as his grandmother rocked and wailed, her hands to her mouth and heart as she cried, "Mis niños, mis niños."

One of the Nunezes' teenage daughters kept calling her mother's cellphone, just to hear her voice.

Moments before 8 p.m. Tuesday, two gunmen walked into Lorena's Grocery on the corner of 50th and Parrish Streets in the city's Mill Creek section, and shot the Nunezes and Sanchez before fleeing with cash.

The Nunezes' two teenage daughters were also in the store and saw the killings, but their lives were spared. The Inquirer is not identifying them while the gunmen are at large.

Police are reviewing surveillance footage and reports of other holdups in hopes of identifying the assailants. Both were described as black men about 25 years old. One is between 5 feet, 4 inches and 5 feet, 6 inches tall, with a thick build and a mustache. The other, about 6 feet tall, is thin. Both men wore black shirts and hats, police said.

Police have found a surveillance video that appears to show the men approaching the store, then running north on 50th Street after the robbery. Lorena's does not have security cameras.

On Tuesday night, Porfirio Nunez, who turned 50 that night; his wife, 49; and Sanchez, 42, were in the back of the store, preparing to close. The two teenagers were in front. Moments before the robbery, police said, the store phone rang with a call from someone who asked whether Lorena's had surveillance cameras. Nunez hung up quickly, a daughter said, then the gunmen burst through the door.

The gunmen ordered one of the teenagers to lie on the floor and demanded that the other open the cash register, said Philadelphia Police Lt. Norman Davenport. Nunez, who police said might not have known a robbery was taking place, then walked in from the back room.

One of the gunmen shot him immediately, and both gunmen went to the back room and shot Nunez's wife and sister. On the way to the front of the store, Davenport said, they shot Nunez again before fleeing.

Nunez had a gun, police said, but did not have time to draw.

Javish Sanchez, who lives above the store, heard the shots and his cousins' screams. He ran downstairs.

"I just saw them lying there, dead," he said.

Porfirio Nunez, originally from the Dominican Republic, owned the store for 11 years. His family joined him in the States recently.

"He worked hard to get his family here with him," Javish Sanchez said.

In addition to his two daughters, he and his wife leave behind a young son, Moises, Javish Sanchez said.

Several hundred people gathered outside the store Wednesday evening for a vigil for the victims.

Karen Atkinson, 46, a 30-year neighborhood resident, said she knew the Nunezes when they opened the store about a decade ago.

"It was a family store," she said, noting that, in addition to the three victims, a daughter handled the lottery sales, a nephew worked the counter, an aunt made the sandwiches, and a grandfather also helped out.

"He was saving up money to put his daughter through college. He was saving up money for citizenship for his whole family," she said of Porfirio Nunez.

"All he wanted to do was have a better life for his family and be an American," she said.

Neighbors knew Porfirio Nunez as Porfi, a kind man who took pride in his store, swept the sidewalks clean, and painted the peeling bricks bright orange last summer. He always let customers pay him back later if they were short.

Angelo Reid stood staring at the teddy bear memorial in front of the store Wednesday. His wife teaches at James Rhoades Elementary across the street, and he got to know Porfi Nunez when he waited there for his wife to finish work.

"They didn't just hurt one family," he said of the killers. "They hurt the whole neighborhood."

Danilo Burgos, chairman of the Dominican Grocers Association, said the family opened the store after years of working in factories or in the service industry.

"It breaks your heart to walk by the store and see the candles there," said Burgos, who was with family members on Wednesday planning the funerals. "These people were very loved in the neighborhood. . . . God willing, the people who did this will get their day of justice."

Authorities ask that anyone with information call the Philadelphia Police Department's homicide unit at 215-686-3334.

Inquirer staff writer Robert Moran contributed to this article.