First thing Friday morning, Philadelphia City Councilman Kenyatta Johnson received a phone call with some bad news.
His neighbor and friend since 2011, a budding real-estate developer named Mr. Sean Schellenger, was allegedly stabbed to death on Thursday night in Rittenhouse Square by a 20-year-old college student named Mr. Michael White.
The information was incomprehensible, said the councilman, who on Sunday night, along with residents of the 2100 block of Ellsworth Street in South Philadelphia, organized a well-attended candlelight vigil to remember the deceased 37-year-old.
“I just talked to him on the Fourth of July,” the councilman recalled.
Mr. White, a poet who raised funds to attend Morgan State University, was accompanied by clergy on Saturday when he turned himself into police. By Saturday evening, the student who was said to be riding a bicycle upon encountering and later allegedly stabbing Mr. Schellenger, was arrested and charged with murder and possession of an instrument of crime.
“People are trying to make sense of it all,” Mr. Johnson said by phone after the vigil.
THE RACE CARD
So far, there are not many details on how the interaction, which was created via a traffic blockage, escalated into a fatal stabbing. Mr. Larry White, a cousin to the alleged murderer, told the news media that his relative, who is black, believed he was being racially targeted by Mr. Schellenger, who was white, and two of his associates, all of whom were allegedly intoxicated. The cousin further alleges that the student was spat on.
“It was a difficult situation for my cousin to walk away from,” Mr. White told 6abc.
Mr. White, who was home on break from school, is being held without bail. And though it hasn’t been explicitly stated by the jailed student, a claim of self-defense is likely, said family spokesperson Mr. Greg Thompson.
Mr. Thompson told Philly.com that the former quarterback on the Pennsylvania State University football team tackled Mr. White, who then defended himself once Mr. Schellenger was laying on top of him. Mr. White is said to have stabbed Mr. Schellenger only once.
Mr. White appears to have no criminal record or past run-ins with the law while the same can’t be said for Mr. Schellenger, who co-founded the company Streamline Solutions. Mr. Schellenger, the company’s CEO, in 2001 was charged in Chester County with burglary, resisting arrest, criminal trespassing and theft. And in 2009, again in Chester County, Mr. Schellenger was found guilty of disorderly conduct.
No video footage has surfaced publicly yet and police are still looking for an associate of the deceased who fled the scene. Some people I’ve talked to have seized on Mr. Schellenger’s past to confirm that he was the aggressor.
One older woman on the 2100 block of Ellsworth Street yesterday said she believed Mr. White acted in self-defense and asserted that Mr. Schellenger wasn’t an angel. Several community leaders over the past 24 hours have silently pledged their allegiance to Mr. White, whom they believe was the victim of ethnic intimidation.
“A lot of people are going to play off the racial angle,” the councilman said. “People have different opinions.”
TWO SYSTEMS
Officer Eric McLaurin of the Philadelphia Police Department’s Public Affairs unit said he’s not authorized to discuss the case in any detail other than the preliminary information that the department made available Monday morning. Mr. McLaurin said the department has no plans to hold a press conference in the coming days to allow the media to satisfy inquiries.
Mr. Isaac Gardner, a shock-jock also known as Ikey Raw, briefly attended Sunday’s vigil and stood outside the gates of the community garden where the gathering was held. The founder of the Justice for David Jones Coalition is siding with Mr. White, but not silently.
Mr. Gardner not only believes that Mr. White acted in self-defense when faced with belligerent drunks, but that his swift arrest and charging exemplifies two systems of justice: one for cops and the other for citizens.
Mr. Gardner is outraged that the former Philadelphia cop who shot and killed Mr. David Jones on June 8th, 2017 is free to walk the streets while an investigation is ongoing, meanwhile, a young man accused of taking a life is arrested and charged within 24 hours.
A few residents of the city I spoke with also found the immediate charging of Mr. White jarring. It implies no investigation into the incident occurred, or is ongoing, they all said.
A source within the government said a murder suspect’s immediate charging and arrest is not uncommon. However, Mr. White should have been accompanied by a lawyer when he turned himself in and then cited the Stand Your Ground law, they said.
Mr. White doesn’t appear to be a flight risk and should be able to continue his college education while being monitored until trial, several people, including Mr. Gardner and the government source, asserted. Mr. Gardner said murder is an inappropriate charge, given that the information presented thus far doesn’t imply the student had an intent to kill.
Mr. White certainly has a contingent of supporters who believe he is being railroaded, some of whom even visited with Mr. White’s parents yesterday evening while the vigil occurred across town.
A number of citizens I’ve talked to in the last 24 hours have cited a potential for violent protest or race riots in the wake of Mr. White’s charging. A black college student with no apparent propensity to violence has been thrown to the wolves and could sit for years until his story is heard, is an injustice that won’t go unconfronted, many have suggested.
My request issued this morning to the DA’s office for more information into the evidence presented by police to substantiate a murder charge was acknowledged but not yet fulfilled.
Thanks for reading! Until next time, I’m Flood the Drummer® and I’m Drumming for Justice!™
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