Officer Moses Walker, Jr.

CrimePAY$    $118,000 Reward      1-888-755-TIPS (8477)

Update August 24, 2012 – PHILADELPHIA — A 23-year-old Philadelphia man who walked out of prison 10 days before the shooting of city Police Officer Moses Walker Jr. has confessed to killing him, police sources said Thursday night.

Rafael Jones of the 1800 block of West Susquehanna Avenue was first picked up for questioning Wednesday and is expected to be charged Friday in Walker’s death. He had been released from prison Aug. 8 after violating probation on a gun conviction, and although a judge ordered him fitted with an electronic monitoring device, he apparently never was.

Update August 21, 2012 – The reward is up to $118,000 and the police have released new, clearer video of the alleged attackers in the manhunt for the shooter who gunned down off-duty Philadelphia Police Officer Moses Walker Saturday. The reward has increased to a record level as investigators battle a “no-snitch” culture on the streets. Informants fear they’ll end up dead themselves, so the reward money is meaningless.

UpDate August 19, 2012 – A police spokeswoman said Sunday that the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 5 had increased its reward to $15,000, joining a city reward of $20,000 for a total of $35,000.

August 18, 2012 – Police officer in Philadelphia shot, murdered moments after ending night shift and leaving his station house

    Nineteen-year vet fatefully told colleague he wanted to walk to his bus stop instead of taking an offered lift home
    Officer was confronted on sidewalk four blocks from his workplace
    Deacon at local church was eligible for retirement in months
    Robbery is said to be the motive for the killing
    Slain officer is described as ‘gentle’ man who ‘wouldn’t harm a fly.’

A Philadelphia police officer was gunned down four blocks from his station house Saturday morning – and police are combing the city for the culprit.

Moses Walker Jr., 40, declined a lift home from a fellow officer after wrapping up the night shift before 6 a.m. at the 22nd Station House in ‘North Philly,’ according to The Philadelphia Inquirer newspaper.

The deceased reportedly told his colleague he preferred to hoof it to his  bus stop, where he would meet his mass-transit ride home, fatefully saying, ‘It’s a nice day. I’m going to walk.’

The 19-year veteran, who was off-duty, was only months away from being eligible for retirement, according to The Inquirer.

Walker hails from a family of police officers, as his uncle serves as a police captain on the same force.

‘Somebody knows who did it. Somebody knows what happened,’ Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey said. ‘They need to come forward.’

The Philadelphia paper placed the shooting’s location on Cecil B. Moore Street, near 20th St., or only four blocks away from the station house in which Walker worked.

The hardscrabble, rough-and-tumble area is known by residents as ‘North Philly.’

“He was known as a gentle individual,” Ramsey reportedly said. “He wouldn’t harm a fly.’

Robbery was the apparent motive, said sources, who told The Inquirer that officers discovered Walker face-down on the sidewalk with his unholstered gun lying beneath him.

Walker had been shot at least twice in the chest and abdomen, although it was not clear if he returned fire. The officer was still alive when found. He was taken to Hahnemann Hospital, where a doctor pronounced him dead at 6:23 a.m.

‘Somebody knows who did it. Somebody knows what happened. They need to come forward.’

The Inquirer writes that the suspect fled south through a vacant lot.

A K-9 dog unit combed the area for a scent, but did so without success.

Police, however, reportedly have said they have located a witness  and were talking to others as of Saturday afternoon.

“The department’s in mourning,” Ramsey told reporters after 14 motorcycle officers escorted an ambulance bearing Walker’s body to the morgue.

The 22nd District Station house is located at 17th Street and Montgomery Avenue.

There, Walker is known as a ‘turnkey’ who monitors a holding cell room at the station house, The Inquirer reported. The turnkey officer works in the cell and fingerprints, photographs and processes prisoners after they are arrested.

‘Obviously the officers are very upset at the loss of our brother officer,’  Sgt. Gregory Caputo, of the 22nd district, told The Inquirer on Saturday.

Police are asking area business for any surveillance footage that might help.

A $20,000 reward has already been posted for information in the officer’s murder. The Fraternal Order of Police offered an additional $10,000 reward.

CrimePAY$    $118,000 Reward    1-888-755-TIPS (8477)

This entry was posted on Sunday, August 19th, 2012 at 8:57 am and is filed under $100,000+, Pennsylvania, Solved, Unsolved Murder. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.