Author Archives: John Moritz

Shooting after youth football game on Cecil B. Moore

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A shooting after a Pee-Wee football game at Columbia Playground has left one non-student in critical condition at Temple University Hospital Saturday evening.

Around 5:20 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 5., an altercation arose at the playground on 11th Street and Cecil B. Moore Avenue, Acting Executive DIrector of Campus Safety Services Charlie Leone said. A 19-year-old man was shot twice, once in the stomach and once in the buttocks, and was transported to TUH.

Leone said a male and female suspect were observed running into a vehicle last seen driving north on 11th Street.

Leone said police did not have a description on either suspect or the vehicle.

Temple police issued an advisory at 6:12 p.m. warning students to avoid the area.

Crime Logs for 9/30 to 10/2

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Main Campus

A bike theft occurred between Sept. 28 at 7 p.m. and Sept. 30 at 1 a.m. on the 2000 block of North Broad Street. No arrests have been made at this time.

An incident of criminal mischief occurred on Sept.30 at 10:31 a.m. in Mitten Hall. No arrests have been made at this time.

A theft occurred on Sept. 30 between 11 a.m. and 12 p.m. in Paley Library. No arrests have been made at this time.

A bike theft occurred between Sept. 16 at 5 p.m. and Sept. 30 at 3 p.m. on the 1300 block of West Norris Street. No arrests have been made at this time.

A theft from auto occurred between Sept. 29 at 12 p.m. and Sept. 30 at 8 p.m. on the 2000 block of North 10th Street. No arrests have been made at this time.

An incident of criminal mischief occurred between Sept. 29 at 8:30 p.m. and Sept. 30 at 8:30 p.m. on the 2000 block of North 10th Street. No arrests have been made at this time.

A theft occurred on Sept. 30 between 11:30 a.m. and 11:35 p.m. in Annenberg Hall. No arrests have been made at this time.

A retail theft occurred on Oct. 2 at 1:10 a.m. on the 1500 block of West Cecil B. Moore Avenue. An arrest has been made in regards to this incident.

A bike theft occurred between Oct. 1 at 7 p.m. and Oct. 2 at 11:45 p.m. on the 1200 block of West Norris Street. No arrests have been made at this time.

HSC

A theft occurred on Sept. 30 between 12:30 p.m. and 5:25 p.m. in Rock Pavilion. No arrests have been made at this time.

A theft occurred on Oct. 2 between 7:30 a.m. and 4:20 p.m. in Rock Pavilion. No arrests have been made at this time.

Kardon residents evacuated after car fire

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Just after 6 p.m., Wednesday, a car fire broke out in the basement parking area of the Kardon Atlantic Apartments on 10th Street.
An SUV belonging to Temple Facilities Management caught on fire in the basement and residents were evacuated, said Charlie Leone, acting executive director of Campus Safety Services.
Facilities operates several offices on the first floor of the building.
Firefighters controlled the blaze in less than an hour and residents were let back into the building around 7:30 p.m.
Students said they were shocked to see the response to the fire, which brought several fire trucks and filled the area of Berks Street under the SEPTA regional rail tracks with smoke.
“I didn’t come down at first, usually it is just a drill,” said Dave Toomey, a junior business major. “Then a cop came to my door so I came down.”
“I just heard the alarm and waited one minute” Margaret Thompson, a junior piano performance major, said. “It’s a bummer, I want to go home soon.”
Leone said there were no injuries in the incident, and the building did not sustain any damage. However, at least one firefighter on the scene was wheeled away in a stretcher receiving oxygen. He appeared to be alert and calm.

North Philly church to build community center with student housing

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The North Philadelphia Seventh Day Adventist Church is renovating an old building adjacent to their property on the 1600 block of West Oxford Street into a community center that will incorporate student housing.

Elder Keith S. Goodman Sr, the church pastor, said the renovation will include an expansion of church offices and new apartments, some of which will be used for student housing.

Goodman declined to comment further on the construction process, costs or an expected due date.

Cop attacked at Cecil B. Moore station while riders watch

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A SEPTA surveillance video posted to Philly.com Monday shows an assault on a SEPTA police officer inside the Cecil B. Moore subway station that occurred on Thursday, Sept. 19, as onlookers watched with no one taking action.

The video, which showed a time stamp of just after 3 p.m., shows a crowd of subway riders entering the train while a cop, identified by Philly.com as Officer Samuel Washington, attempts to stop a man who had allegedly entered the station without paying.

Shortly after the train departs the station, the video shows the man violently struggle with Washington before grabbing hold of the officer and flipping him over, and then under, a bench.

A crowd of onlookers then gathers around the two, with the Washington remaining pinned under the bench for about a minute before he appears to grab hold of his attacker’s face or neck, and pulls himself up to arrest the man.

No one from the crowd gathered to watch the struggle took action to help the officer, and one woman appeared to have stopped a phone call to take a picture or video of the incident.

The video was posted to Philly.com alongside an article by Daily News columnist Helen Ubinas, who refers to the lack of action taken by passersby as the “Philly Shrug.”

Temple a growing presence on Boardwalk Empire

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For the second time in the first four episodes of its newest season, HBO’s Boardwalk Empire has crossed paths with North Broad Street.

Sunday night’s episode, “Acres of Diamonds” is a reference to founder Russell Conwell’s most famous speech. In the episode, Willie Thompson, who sang “Fight Temple, Fight!” in the season’s premier, listens to Conwell’s speech with a group of students in the university’s library.

At one point, a bored student standing in the back of the library with Willie disgruntedly refers the the university’s founder as “old man Conwell.”

After listening to the speech, Willie promisies to buy “booze” for a group of fraternity brothers who proceed to throw a party in the library basement. The scene ends with Willie and a girl being busted by other partygoers for hooking up within the library stacks.

Posted in A&E

Dryer fire in Peabody

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A minor dryer fire in Peabody Hall on Thursday caused the building to be evacuated but resulted in no damage other than to the dryer, Acting Executive Director of Campus Safety Services Charlie Leone said.

CSS was alerted to the incident around 2:52 p.m. Thursday, after smoke from the basement dryer set off fire alarms in the building.

Philadelphia Fire Department crews responded to the scene, which was given the all-clear a short while later.

Busy day for CSS at Morgan Hall

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Three separate incidents occurred today at Morgan Hall, including accidental fire alarms, people trapped in an elevator and a mysterious hole in an window of which campus police have yet to determine the cause.

The first incident occurred around 2 a.m. Sunday morning, Sept. 15. Temple police responded to calls about a mysterious hole in a window on the eighth floor on the south side of Morgan Hall, said Acting Executive Director of Campus Safety Services Charlie Leone.

Leone said the hole was slightly larger than a golf ball, and police do not believe it was caused by a firearm. Leone said police found no projectile, but did find broken glass both inside the building and on the street below. Due to the height of the window, it was hard to tell if the cause of the hole came from inside or outside.

Leone said students reported hearing “firecrackers” shortly before the hole was found.

The second incident occurred later in the afternoon when contractors working inside the building accidentally tripped the fire alarms in both the north and south sections of the building.

The third incident occurred shortly after 5 p.m., when three elevators in the tower stopped working. Two people were trapped inside one of the elevators for around 30 minutes. Security officers in the building contacted the Otis Elevator Company and the Philadelphia Fire Department, the later of whom arrived to free the two people trapped.

None of the incidents appear related, Leone said.

Crime Logs for 9/11 to 9/12

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 Main Campus

A theft occurred on the 1800 block of North 16th Street at 5:30 a.m. on Sept. 11.  No arrests have been made at this time.

A theft occurred between 9 p.m. on Sept. 10 and midnight, Sept. 11, at University Village. No arrests have been made at this time.

A theft was reported on Sept. 11 to have occurred at 5:20 p.m. on Aug. 28 in Alter Hall. No arrests have been made.

An incident of criminal mischief was reported at 8:05 p.m. on Sept. 11 on the 1300 block of Cecil B. Moore Avenue. No arrests have been made.

An incident of criminal mischief was reported at 2:30 a.m. on Sept. 12 on the 1500 block of North Broad Street.  An arrest was made in regards to the incident.

A theft was reported to have occurred between 8 p.m. and 10 p.m. on Sept. 11 on the 1900 block of North 15th Street. The case has been cleared.

A theft occurred between 6 p.m.  on Sept. 11 and 8 a.m. on Sept. 12 in Alter Hall. No arrests have been made.

A theft occurred around 5 p.m. on Sept. 12 in the Tuttleman Learning Center. No arrests have been made.

Health Sciences

A theft occurred between 9 p.m. on Sept. 9 and 5:15 p.m. on Sept. 11 in Rock Pavilion. No arrests have been made.

$250K to add lighting to park

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Columbus Plaza, more commonly known as the skate park on Broad Street and Cecil B. Moore Avenue, is undergoing a $250,000 renovation this fall to add lighting and furniture, James Creedon, senior vice president of facilities, construction and operations, said

The first phase of the project, to be completed by September 24, will install ground lighting around the base of the trees in the park, as well as the installation of new furniture such as tables and chairs.

The second phase, to be completed by mid-October, will install street lighting along the park.

The purpose of the project, Creedon said, is to “light [the park] up at night so people can go in there and feel comfortable.”

The parks present tile and gravel flooring will not be altered, Creedon said. Currently, the park is mainly used by skateboarders from Temple and the surrounding area.