 |
The central nervous system of Philadelphia Media Holdings received a startling jolt this morning when word came down that a Daily News and Inquirer deliveryman had been shot during a robbery attempt.
I'll beat everyone to the punch -- no, none of us here believed that we were somehow above or beyond the city's on-going violent crises. It was just eight years ago that beloved People Paper columnist Russell Byers was stabbed to death during an attempted robbery in Chestnut Hill.
Bad things happen to all kinds of people -- good and bad, cops and journalists, street corner thugs and honor students. But it still stings like a bitch when it hits close to home in your own family -- even if in this case, it's your extended work family. 
The story so far: "Chris Pearo grew up in South Philly, served a stint in the Pennsylvania National Guard, and began driving for The Inquirer and Daily News about 12 years ago.
But not until 3:40 this morning had someone pointed a loaded gun at him and pulled the trigger.
His only real action with the Guard was during the blizzard of 1993, when nearly three feet fell.
This morning, he stopped to drop off papers at a lock box, where they are stashed for merchants to pick up later.
"Two guys walked up on me and said, 'Give me the money,' and I said, 'Here you go,'" he recalled.
"Just the one kid had the gun, stuck it in my belly."
The only cash he had was change left from a $20 bill after buying coffee at a WaWa.
"That's it?" the robbers asked, Pearo recounted.
Pearo offered them his apron, too.
The gun went off, wounding Pearo in the neck."
Thankfully, Pearo survived his chance encounter with a trigger-happy punk. PMH has put up a $10,000 reward through the Citizens Crime Commission for info that leads to the arrest of the spineless thieves; call 215-546-TIPS if any of this rings a bell.
Comments (2)
Maybe the Daily News and Inquirer should look into the way the gun court in Judge Tuckers circus Oh I mean court room is run. Then you may find out why so many peope are running around shooting each other.
Posted by JOE S | June 21, 2007 2:23 PM
Posted on June 21, 2007 14:23
hey people i would just like to say that i think we should stop the gun violence because i think that it is killing too many people i know by experence one of my main niggas got shot thanx to god he is still alive but that left a real bad memory in all of our headz and not everybody has that kind of chance so i think we should all get together nd tell ur kids to stop the violence nd this statement is coming from a 13yr old so i wonder wat the adults have to say about this
Posted by ELIZABETH | February 27, 2008 4:34 PM
Posted on February 27, 2008 16:34