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Evidence showed that Azzim Dukes was not Tarik Bagley’s intended target, Assistant District Attorney Carolyn Naylor said.
Dukes, 17, of the 1600 block of Montrose Street, was walking with another man at 12:28 a.m. March 7, 2010 when Bagley, then 18, of the 2000 block of South 18th Street, approached the pair on the 2000 block of South 19th Street and started shooting, Naylor said. A bullet struck Dukes in the head while the other man escaped physically unscathed. However, Naylor called a witness who disclosed Bagley mentioned he had a problem with the man who was not wounded prior to the shooting, causing Naylor to believe Dukes was not who Bagley meant to gun down.
A jury found Bagley, now 21, who was arrested three days after the incident, guilty of first-degree murder, carrying a firearm without a license and possession of an instrument of crime Jan. 22 and the judge sentenced him to life in prison at Montgomery County’s Graterford State Prison March 11.
He also was convicted of two counts of conspiracy, recklessly endangering another person, firearm not to be carried without a license and possession of an instrument of crime, which stemmed from two incidents after the homicide.
At 7 p.m. on the day of Dukes’ death, about 50 friends and relatives gathered at 19th Street and Snyder Avenue to mourn when Bagley fired at the crowd from his car.
“There wasn’t necessarily a target that we were aware of,” Naylor said. “He was just trying to disrupt the crowd. … He then drove off, and about 50 minutes later he was seen again with a firearm at 16th and Mifflin. He was seen firing down that street.”
Contact Managing Editor Amanda L. Snyder at asnyder@southphillyreview.com or ext. 117.
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