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Iraqi Vet Loses Son To Philly
Streets

5/4 - 5/10/2012

Vol 24 No 12

Barbara’s Line Dancing Class

TWITTER TWITS

Miracle Lady Survives

By Napoleon F.  Kingcade

Westside News Reporter

When 1st Class Army Sgt. Duenean Pressley was in Iraq in 2005, she came so close to being killed when a road-side bomb exploded and destroyed the military gun truck she was riding in.

Needless to say, she knew of the dangers that lingered on nearly every street in that war-torn nation.

And, she has experienced the dangers here at home – twice.

In 1999, the father of her 9-year-old son, Devin was killed following an argument with a neighbor on the streets of West Philly.

And then last Thursday, (April 26th) she got a call while on duty in Dallas, Texas that her son, Devin, was shot to death on the streets of Southwest Philly.

Today, instead of enjoying the company of her son, she will be burying him.

ÒWhen I had received the call at my Army base, I was told that my son had been shot and he was gone,Ó said  the 41-year-old mother, who has served in the military for 14 years.

Police said the body of Devin Pressley, 21,  was found lying dead on the cement steps in the 5400 Block of Pentridge Street.

According to his mother, a friend who was with her son told her that she and Devin were watching TV when he got up to go to see someone he had recently had an argument with.

The young woman told her that her son told her he needed to go handle some business.

Ms. Pressley said the young girl told her that she waited nearly an hour for her son to come back to the house, but he never did. She didn’t know that Devin was killed until later that day.

The death of her son has been harder than any military mission that she ever served during her 15 months in Iraq. Sgt. Pressley served in Irag from 2004-2005.

Philadelphia Homicide Detective Francis Graf had confirmed that a couple of neighbors on Pentridge Street had heard a couple of gun shots around 12 noon that day and seconds later saw an unidentified vehicle speed from the block.

Detectives said Devin Pressley was shot twice in the chest and rushed to the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania where he was pronounced dead.

In a sad twist of fate, Devin’s mother said Devin’s father, Venis Woods, had died the same way as her son in 1999 after getting into an argument with a neighbor.

Her son leaves behind a five-year-old daughter, whom he had spent many days and nights with as a loving and caring father. He graduated from John Bartram High School in 2010 and worked for a local food delivery service.

We had talk about him enrolling in a couple of schools for film production and he wanted to do produce music, said his mother.

Many of Sgt. Pressley’s army commanding officers and a great number of police officers will be at her son’s funeral.

I’m a firm believer in what you do unto others will soon come back to you,said the distraught mother. God doesn’t like ugly.

And this was definitely someone doing something ugly. Someone is going to talk and when they do they are not going to keep it quiet. I just hope it doesn’t take 5 to 20 years down the road before someone actually says something.

Funeral services for Devin Pressley will take place today (May 4th) at Francis Funeral Home, 5201 Whitby Avenue at 3:00 PM. The viewing is from 3PM-5PM and the service starts at 5PM.

If you have information about Devin Pressley’s killer, call Homicide Detectives at 215-686-3334 or 215-686-3335

Iraqi Vet Loses Son To Philly Streets

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But He Will Not Leave!

Miracle Lady’ Survives Shooting!

By Napoleon F.  Kingcade

  Westside Reporter  

Walking home from the store, Keisha Palmer was just a few steps from making it home.

Then shots rang out.

A bullet smashed through Keisha Palmer’s skull just below her left eye and exited out of the back of her head.

And, a miracle happened. Keisha Palmer lives.

The 38-year-old mother of two is still breathing, but has no memory of that February 23rd shooting incident on the 5800 block of Master Street. The person, who shot Palmer, is still on the loose and police said they have very few leads to catch him.

Now, Palmer’s family is praying for her full recovery.

I had just spoken to her around 7 or 8 ‘o clock and she was telling me how she wanted to buy some fish that was on sale, said her sister, Quanda French. And then an hour later, her husband calls me and tells me that Keisha got shot.

According to a police report, Palmer was walking and talking with a female friend and carrying her grocery bags from the store on her way home.

There were four men standing on the corner who -- one or all of them -- were apparently the targets of a gunman who fired a 45-calibre automatic pistol at them.

None of the men were hit. Palmer was. She was lying on the ground only a few feet away from her home.

Police said they have questioned two of the four men - whose images were caught on a nearby surveillance camera - but they are not cooperating with the investigation.

Today, Palmer can barely talk and has a hard time remembering her friends and her two children. She can hardly eat her food and she can hardly remember things that she did only a few hours ago.

But Thank God, her family says, Palmer is still here to share the happiness that she still has with her loving family.

ÒI want that shooter to know if he has a heart he should turn himself in, said Palmer’s sister, Quanda French. If it was his family, he wouldn’t like it. Just imagine that (happening) to your family, your mother or your sister. You should turn yourself in.

The entire family has been by Palmer’s side since she was admitted into the University of Pennsylvania Hospital. Police transported her straight to the hospital. At the hospital incredibly, Palmer was able to walk into the emergency room under her own strength. It took doctors several hours to save her life and five hours later the doctors knew that Keisha would survive. The doctors operated six hours to remove the bullet from her skull. Doctors said her youth and physical strength saved her from dying.

Her family calls her the Miracle child.

Before the shooting, their sister was working five days a week as a cardiology medical technician at Thomas Jefferson Hospital. She had just gotten married to her husband last December 30. Keisha was a happy mother and a happy wife.

We have been helping out with her two kids and eight other kids that she was helping to raise, said her aunt, Tanya Washington.  She was a caring person who cared for everybody. We have been helping out with the food and making sure her children are fed. We will continue to help her and her family.

Meanwhile many of Palmer’s friends and co-workers from Thomas Jefferson Hospital have been visiting her and giving her lots of love and support. Her family is making a pitch to raise funds for an reward to find the shooter that nearly ended her life.

Someone has to know something, there were too many people outside when the shooting happen, said Keisha’s aunt, Tanya Washington. ÒIf any one knows something they should pick up the phone and make the call.

If anyone has any information about the person who shot Keisha Palmer, you can stay anonymous and contact the Tip Line at 215-546-Tips.