RIVAL DRUG DEALERS SUSPECTED IN SLAUGHTER

Four Teen-Agers Among Seven Killed In Old Row House

PHILADELPHIA -- Police investigating a mass shooting in a West Philadelphia
row house said Friday the killers ordered their victims to lie face down on
the floor before spraying them with bullets.

Seven people -- four of them teen-agers -- were robbed and fatally shot
when four masked gunmen burst into a suspected drug house about 8 p.m.
Thursday and at least two started spraying from 9 mm guns.

Three others were injured, including two men who remained hospitalized
Friday night. One woman was shot five times in the legs while she huddled
next to her nephew as he was slain.

"It was a gruesome crime scene," said police Capt. James Brady of the
homicide unit. "Bodies piled up. It was not a pretty sight."

Police officials said it was the worst mass shooting in the city that they
could remember.

Philadelphia police said the killers are believed to be rival drug dealers
who are thought to have targeted three people inside the house. The other
victims, police said, were probably shot to eliminate them as witnesses. As
of Friday night, police had not made any arrests but said they were looking
at several people. They stopped short of calling them suspects.

The 68-year-old mother of one of the survivors Friday described her son's
account. She said her son was visiting a friend upstairs at the house when
the gunmen arrived.

"They ushered them (the victims) downstairs, robbed them, and shot them,"
the woman said. She said her son did not recognize the killers.

Police said they are withholding the identities of her son and two other
survivors because they are believed to be in danger.

Police said the building was used as a crack house. Although police did not
recover any drugs, they said they found paraphernalia, including crack
pipes, inside.

A police official said investigators are trying to determine whether the
killings were related to another recent shooting in the neighborhood.

Most of the young victims were friends from the neighborhood.

Police identified six of those killed as:

. Edward Sudler, 44, who did odd jobs in the neighborhood.

. Ronette Abrams, 33, a mother of two who was until recently a clerk in the
District Attorney's Office.

. Calvin "C.J." Helton, 19, a would-be computer student.

. Tyrone Long Jr., an 18-year-old rapper.

. George Porter, 18, a gregarious West Philadelphia High School senior who
a friend said was good at math.

. Samuel Malik Harris, 15.

A seventh victim, a male, has not yet been identified by police.

One of the survivors is a 45-year-old man who was shot in the groin and the
back. He was listed in good condition last night at the Hospital at the
University of Pennsylvania and was being guarded by police.

A 43-year-old woman who was shot in the legs was discharged from the
hospital Friday.

The third survivor, a 37-year-old man, was upgraded from critical to
serious condition after surgery Friday at the Hospital of the University of
Pennsylvania with a back wound.