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Camden reaches 48th homicide, on track for a record

Camden recorded its 48th homicide of the year Tuesday, putting the violence-weary city 11 deaths away from surpassing its annual record with more than three months to go.

Jose Gonzalez hugs Doris Malevet before the beginning of the Vigil and march. Jose's brother Louis "Nene" Gonzalez was a victim, and Doris daughter Mita was also a victim. Vigil for Non Violence outside the home of Doris Malevet, mother of Mita Reyes at 830 N. 6th Street,Camden,NJ. ( RON CORTES / Staff Photographer ).
Jose Gonzalez hugs Doris Malevet before the beginning of the Vigil and march. Jose's brother Louis "Nene" Gonzalez was a victim, and Doris daughter Mita was also a victim. Vigil for Non Violence outside the home of Doris Malevet, mother of Mita Reyes at 830 N. 6th Street,Camden,NJ. ( RON CORTES / Staff Photographer ).Read moreRon Cortes
    by By Darran Simon, Inquirer Staff Writer
    Published 

Camden recorded its 48th homicide of the year Tuesday, putting the violence-weary city 11 deaths away from surpassing its annual record with more than three months to go.

City resident Stephen Thomas, 18, was shot multiple times near 35th Street and Rosedale Avenue in East Camden around 8:20 p.m., the Camden County Prosecutor's Office and city police said Wednesday.

Thomas was found lying in the street and died shortly afterward at Cooper University Hospital.

His shooting was one of four gun incidents in the city within 10 1/2 hours.

A 27-year-old Camden woman was wounded around 10 a.m. on the 900 block of Bailey Street in North Camden. Around 8:30 p.m., two men were shot - a 51-year-old near Ninth and Vine Streets in North Camden and a 24-year-old on the 1600 block of Pershing Street in Whitman Park. All three survived.

Most of this year's recorded homicides have taken place in North Camden and the Lanning Square, Whitman Park, and Gateway neighborhoods. The record of 58 homicides was set in 1995.

Two of this year's grisliest homicides claimed the lives of young children and have authorities looking into whether their alleged killers may have used a particularly virulent strain of the drug PCP.

Chevonne Thomas, 33, decapitated her 2-year-old son, Zahree, on Aug. 22 in the Parkside section, then placed his head in the freezer before committing suicide, according to police.

On Sept. 2, in the Centerville section, authorities say Osvaldo Rivera, 31, raped and slashed a 12-year-old girl and stabbed her 6-year-old brother when the boy tried to intervene.

Rivera told police that he had smoked "wet," a mix of marijuana and PCP that can lead to hallucinations and bursts of violence, before the attacks, according to authorities. Thomas also had a history of smoking wet.