Thursday, January 26, 2023

Repeat offender


A young Philadelphia man with a long rap sheet is now in custody after he allegedly shot and killed four people and wounded another during a deadly string of violence earlier this year.

On January 3, police say 24-year-old Edwin Vargas committed the city's first homicide of 2023. At around 2 a.m. that morning, Vargas was riding along West Hunting Park Avenue in a car with at least two others: a driver and a 28-year-old male, later identified as Caesar Santos. At some point, Vargas allegedly drew a gun and fatally shot Santos in the head. The driver of the vehicle crashed soon afterward but managed to escape from the vehicle with just minor injuries to his hands.

Though police eventually arrested Vargas in connection to that shooting, "[u]nfortunately that arrest came seven days too late," said Philadelphia police Staff Inspector Ernest Ransom. The reason Ransom believes the arrest came too late is because Vargas has also been charged in connection to a horrific shooting that occurred just days after Santos was shot and killed.

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