Did Eagles game spark biker gun battle?
One man was killed and 3 others wounded as shots rang out at a popular Lawncrest tavern. As many as 15 motorcycles scurried from the scene.
POLICE ARE investigating whether a dispute over yesterday's Eagles-Cowboys game triggered a bloody gunbattle involving bikers at a popular bar in the Northeast that left one man dead and three others wounded.
Cops who arrived on the scene shortly after the early evening shooting at the Tangeray Tavern, on Pratt Street near Summerdale and Godfrey avenues in Summerdale, said they were looking at whether the football game triggered the gunfight, which may have involved members of the notorious Wheels of Soul motorcycle gang.
But police Sgt. Mark Palma said outside the tavern that officers were still investigating the gunfight and could not yet be sure exactly what caused the fusillade of bullets.
Witnesses reported that as many as 15 motorcycles fled the scene after the shots rang out.
A 34-year-old man who was shot during the melee was taken to Einstein Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead at 6:44 p.m. Police said the murder victim was wearing a Wheels of Soul jacket.
Two other men, ages 53 and 42, also reportedly both wearing biker jackets, were rushed to Aria Health's Torresdale hospital and were listed last night in critical condition. A wounded 35-year-old was taken to Lankenau Medical Center and listed in stable condition.
A woman who gave her name only as Magely said she was walking near the tavern on Godfrey when she heard the shots ring out and saw several people running away. The tavern sits across the street from a rec center and a neighborhood park.
Magely said she's now afraid to bring her 5-year-old-daughter to the playground. "I'm not going to bring her here for a long time," the woman said.
The Wheels of Soul - which law-enforcement officials consider to be an outlaw motorcycle gang - and its clubhouses have made headlines frequently in connection with violent incidents on both sides of the Delaware River, and elsewhere in the country.
Philadelphia is the mother chapter of the national organization.
Last December, a Philadelphia jury convicted Demetrious Young, 22, of third-degree murder in the April 1, 2012, early-morning shooting death of Marcus Smith, 28, outside the Wheels of Soul headquarters on Market Street near 61st in West Philly.
In March 2014, a Camden man was arrested for allegedly sexually assaulting a woman inside the Wheels of Soul hangout on Princess Avenue in Camden. The woman was allegedly attacked and forced into a room by gunpoint.
Nasir Pinkney, 31, a member of the club, was shot to death outside the West Philly club in January 2013. In July 2012, two men were shot inside the Wheels' Camden club after they refused to pay a cover.
Agents from the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives raided the West Philadelphia headquarters in 2011, simultaneous with raids in six other states that led to the arrest of 18 members on murder, robbery, arson and related charges.
Nonetheless, the group has attempted to describe itself as peaceful and law-abiding.
"We hold block parties. And back-to-school programs," one member told the Daily News after the 2011 raid.
On Twitter: @ValerieRussDN