Man charged in fatal shootings at Glatz Jewelers

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

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

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

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

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 robber, 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 Oct. 12 from the Curran-Fromhold Correctional Facility while working a night shift in the kitchen.

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

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

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 had been charged with a Dec. 26 robbery.

No other information on that robbery was available.

Six years ago, when Onyiah was living in Lindenwold, he and an accomplice robbed three banks and tried to rob a fourth in Camden and Burlington Counties. In each case, Onyiah passed a demand note to a teller and said he had 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, he 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 Glatz's father, a German immigrant.

Despite opening a second store in Bucks County, 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 multidenominational body of neighborhood clergy, plans to hold a prayer vigil in front of the jewelers at noon Nov. 20.

Ben Krey, pastor of Prince of Prince Lutheran Church, is one of the organizers. He said he hadn't known 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.