A man accused of gunning down five people in Philadelphia last summer has been ruled competent to stand trial and had a preliminary hearing on Tuesday.
Kimbrady Carriker, 40, had been ruled mentally unfit for a trial in August 2023. But on Tuesday, the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office announced he’d been deemed competent, local NBC affiliate WCAU reported.
Carriker fatally shot four people at random on a street in southwest Philadelphia on July 3, 2023, according to police. He had also killed one man nearby about 44 hours earlier.
Responding officers arrested Carriker at the scene. Philadelphia prosecutor Robert Wainwright said Carriker told the cops he was “out here helping you guys,” the Philadelphia Inquirer reported.
Sources previously told the Inquirer that Carriker told officers he was trying to help fight gun violence in the city by killing people at random with an assault-style rifle.
The victims of Carriker’s killing spree were DaJuan Brown, 15; Lashyd Merritt, 20; Dymir Stanton, 29; Joseph Wamah Jr., 31; Ralph Moralis, 59.
Carriker first shot Wamah shortly after midnight on Sunday, July 2, according to police. He returned to the same street around 8:30 p.m. Monday and unleashed more violence, cops said.
He first shot up a car driven by Octavia Brown, wounding her and three children riding as passengers. Carriker then shot a 13-year-old boy, a friend of DaJuan Brown.
Officer Natasha Chestnut testified Tuesday that DaJuan flagged her down for help, but as she tended to the 13-year-old, Carriker fatally shot DaJuan, according to the Inquirer.
Carriker then continued down the street, shooting Moralis, Merritt and Stanton, police said. Even as cops responded to the scene, Carriker continued shooting people at random, according to authorities.
Carriker’s defense attorneys presented no evidence at Tuesday’s hearing, the Inquirer reported.
Carriker is due back in court on April 9.
