Man dies after attack by teens

DEATH MADE a sudden and apparently random stop at a busy subway concourse yesterday - in the heart of Center City in the middle of a weekday afternoon.

Even in a city roiled by violence, the death of a 36-year-old Starbucks employee in the underground SEPTA concourse at 13th and Market streets near the City Hall station - after an altercation between the victim and four teens turned violent - is shocking.

Cops arrested one youth, a 16-year-old student at Simon Gratz High School, after witnesses said they had seen the four teens shout at the man, then surround him and attack him as he crouched defensively. The youth has been charged with murder and conspiracy, city police said last night.

The victim, Sean Patrick Conroy, ended up down on the platform and barely able to breathe after the 2:46 p.m. incident, SEPTA police said.

They said Conroy lost consciousness on the concourse and was taken to Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 3:09 p.m.

"This is senseless," said William Fowler, 47, a purchaser for the Marriott Courtyard, one of the thousands of people who travel and work in and near the busy SEPTA stations and concourses near City Hall.

"We got enough crime in the city, and now you lost another life for nothing."

Police said that there appeared to be no prior connection between Conroy and his assailants, and that there was no robbery.

Police hoped to learn the identity of the other youths by questioning the teen in custody.

There had been initial reports that Conroy had had a seizure, but later witness accounts said that he had been violently assaulted in the scuffle.

However, Capt. Steven Harold of the SEPTA police said there were no visible bruises or lacerations on Conroy when he was found gasping for air.

Harold said the attack, which occurred at the concourse near the westbound Market-Frankford line, had been witnessed by a SEPTA sergeant who was on the eastbound side of the station.

He said the lawman saw the four youths first shouting at the man.

The youths then surrounded Conroy and attacked him. He was in a "defensive stance," Harold said.

By the time the SEPTA sergeant could reach the scene of the attack, three of the teens had fled, but he was able to nab one suspect. Conroy was down on the concourse floor. "He was short of breath and couldn't even talk," Harold said.

The Starbucks where Conroy worked is about a half block from where he was attacked. Last night, in a statement, the coffee-store chain said that "[o]ut of respect for the partner's family and co-workers, this Starbucks location" - at the Philadelphia Marriott hotel - "will be closed temporarily." It also said: ""Our deepest sympathy goes to the family and friends of the partner, a longtime and well-respected Starbucks employee."

In Center City, bystanders were alarmed that the apparently unprovoked attack had been carried out by high-school students.

Roderick Simmons, 36, who stood across the street from the crime scene, was furious.

"Already you got to watch out for drug dealers and killers," he said.

"Now you have to watch out for high school kids too?"

"I find it stupid," said Harold Pegram, 14, who was walking past the crime scene yesterday with two friends, Douglas Talley, 16, and Christopher Brown, 15.

They said they had seen medics roll Conroy out from the concourse on a stretcher and were surprised to learn that the attackers were their peers.

"Why would you jump an old head?" Talley asked.

The youths agreed that "jumping" is common among high- school-aged kids.

One of the youths admitted to having participated in a crowd fight, but said he knows when to draw the line.

"They should have known how far to take it," said Pegram, of the four attackers.

Most commuters interviewed reacted with shock and outrage.

"I think that it's completely ridiculous that no one can feel safe in broad daylight," said a woman who identified herself only as Linn. "Philadelphia is supposed to be the city of Brotherly Love. It needs to portray that. It's a city of crime. Disgusted, outraged, all of it.

"I'm going to have to go into prayer now," she said.

"The entire city is going to hell," said Jackie, who, like Linn, refused to provide her last name.

"Most times SEPTA is OK, but hearing that makes me worried and upset and wondering about my own safety," said Hui Wang, a frequent SEPTA rider.

Said Abdur Rashid: "Too much crime is everywhere. It always makes me angry when injustice is done, of course. It's certainly a shame."

"It's spooky," said Judy Henderson. "I walk up out of here and I'm shaking." *

Staff writer Dan Geringer contributed to this report.