3 arrested, ID'd in NE Phila supermarket beating

NORTHEAST PHILADELPHIA - October 4, 2012 (WPVI) -- Three teenagers are now in police custody in connection to the savage supermarket attack in Northeast Philadelphia.

The Philadelphia District Attorney's Office has charged 17-year-old Kevin Tavarez with Conspiracy, Robbery, Aggravated Assault, Possession of an Instrument of Crime, Receiving Stolen Property, Terroristic Threats, Theft, Simple Assault and Recklessly Endangering Another Person.

18-year-old Tomas Eanes and 17-year-old Jose Ruiz are facing Conspiracy, Robbery, Aggravated Assault, Possession of an Instrument of Crime, Receiving Stolen Property, Theft, Simple Assault and Recklessly Endangering Another Person charges for the same assault.

Both Tavarez and Ruiz have been charged as adults. All three defendants are scheduled to be arraigned later today.

The incident was caught on surveillance video on Saturday night at the Pathmark on Franklin Mills Boulevard.

As it stands, police are still looking for one more suspect.

Investigators say the four teenage attackers took video of the attack, and posted it on the internet. And that, police say, helped their investigation.

It's only 36 seconds long, but the cell phone video discovered by Action News on YouTube shows a vicious attack on a Northeast Philadelphia man inside the Franklin Mills Boulevard Pathmark.

"I have no idea why they were there, they weren't there to purchase food, they look like they were just there to cause problems and actually they did," Lt. Ray Evers of the Philadelphia Police Department said.

On Tuesday, police released the store's surveillance video of the Saturday night attack where the victim was punched and beaten with a bottle. Police say he and his brother were strolling through the frozen food aisle when three young men and a woman, walked up and sparked a verbal confrontation which led to a supermarket brawl.

The surveillance showed that one of the suspects was recording the incident. A quick search online and there it was on YouTube, a web site called keek.com, and Twitter where they allegedly laughed about the incident. Those sites led Action News to a Facebook page and the person who not only claimed responsibility, he posted the names of his friends in the video.

By late Tuesday night, that video was removed from all of the sites, possibly by the attackers who didn't take it down fast enough.

RELATED: Watch the surveillance video on the Philadelphia Police Department's YouTube channel

Police say one of the suspects took a money clip with $100 in cash from the victim.

Shoppers, meanwhile, are on the lookout.

"It surprises me a lot. Surprised something like that would happen in here. I never heard of anything like that happen in here before," Kelvin Mosley of Northeast Philadelphia said.

"I think that's real crazy; it's just crazy how people do other people," Lezly Galloway of Northeast Philadelphia said.

Pathmark spokesperson Marcy Connor released the following statement Tuesday about the incident:

An unfortunate incident took place at our Northeast Philadelphia Pathmark on Sept. 29. We continue to work with local authorities and cannot comment on the ongoing police investigation regarding this incident.

Get more Local/State »

philadelphia, robbery, assault, northeast philadelphia, caught on camera, local/state

• Comment Now
• Email
• Print
• Report a typo
•