North Philly man is fatally shot
Lonnie "Meechie" Rowland spent his last Father's Day with his son and infant daughter, then went home to get ready for his job working overnight as an officer at a North Philadelphia correctional facility.
Lonnie "Meechie" Rowland spent his last Father's Day with his son and infant daughter, then went home to get ready for his job working overnight as an officer at a North Philadelphia correctional facility.
"Meechie didn't have no enemies. Meechie didn't do nothing but work," said his 86-year-old grandmother, Gertrude Rowland.
Around 10 p.m., a man fatally shot Lonnie Rowland, 37, in the head and chest in the living room of Gertrude Rowland's North Philadelphia house, in the 2400 block of West Elkhart Street. Lonnie Rowland lived there with other family members.
Police Monday night were questioning Lonnie Rowland's cousin in the killing, sources said. Gertrude Rowland said the cousin was Carl Rowland, 27, who recently was released from prison and was staying at her house.
She said she was awakened by gunfire and saw the gunman crouched over her mortally wounded grandson, but did not clearly see the killer's face.
The gunman demanded money and ransacked her bedroom before ordering her into a closet and fleeing, she said. After about 15 minutes, she got out and she rushed to her grandson.
"I went over and I shook him and I shook him and I shook him, but he was gone," she said.
A correctional officer for 12 years, Lonnie Rowland most recently worked at the Cambria Community Center, a minimum security facility.
"He was a good officer, dependable, well-liked, and respected by his colleagues," said prison system spokesman Robert Eskind.
