GUILTY PA - Kevin Kless, 23, beaten to death, Philadelphia, 14 Jan 2012

A 23 year old man was beaten to death near Independence Mall in what authorities are saying was a miscommunication about a taxi.

Kevin Kless and two female friends tried to hail a taxi cab after a night in Olde City. A cab which had it's light on indicating it was vacant went by with passangers. Kless apparently yelled at the taxi and a car following it perhaps thought they were yelling at them.

Basically this poor young man was beaten to death as his friends screamed in vain. A Ranger hearing the screams came upon Kless who had no pulse.



http://abclocal.go.com/wpvi/story?section=news/local&id=8505017


Senseless!!!!!!!!!!!!! They have the make of the car, but so far no arrests. Bless the staff at Thomas Jefferson for trying to save this kid. So young.

Kevin Kless is a 2010 graduate of Temple University and member of the snowboarding team. He just started a new job with an insurance company.




http://www.metro.us/philadelphia/lo...an-beat-to-death-in-old-city-over-cab-dispute

Horrible. So young and just graduated from the University, his whole life was ahead of him.
I hope they got the car on video from one of those business so they can get the license plate.

I will pray they find the animals that killed this kid soon. What a senseless, idiotic friggin waste.

WTH is happening to the human race?:furious:

It's really frightening, the depth of evil we're seeing nowadays.

You think someone's dissing you, you beat him to death. Just incredible.

I have gradually become aware that it is courting danger in our current society to do anything that someone can interpert as a 'diss'. I never use my horn in trafic, even a 'friendly' toot at a guy who doesnt see the light has turned green can land you in trouble. I try not to look over at people at stop lights. There are people out there whose lives are so pathetically empty that they will kill you or stomp you. I am not saying this was this young man's fault, he yelled in an impulsive way. It's just somwething we al, need to be aware of.

Heartbreaking for this poor young man's family.

Kevin Kless had just been back in Philadelphia for six weeks after feeling isolated in Harrisburg. Bless him the young man obviously was a go getter and well loved.




http://articles.philly.com/2012-01-15/news/30629214_1_insurance-firm-cab-mazda

O.K. when the bars leave out in town them streets are crawling with people. Somebody saw something. Not to mention you have four guys in a car. Two get out and beat on one guy. They go back to the car and another one returns to beat the poor guy. That leaves a fourth guy who never got out of the car. Somebody knows.

Kevin's obituary.

http://www.recordonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20120117/NEWS0301/301179990/-1/SITEMAP

hopefully the $15K reward, a make and model of the car and a more accurate description of the scumbags errrr suspects will yield an arrest soon.

The first is about 20 years old, 5-feet, 10-inches tall with a thin build. He was wearing a white shirt with blue stripes.


The second also is about 20 years of age and about 6-feet tall with a medium build. He was wearing a maroon shirt.


The third is described only as being about 6-feet, 2-inches tall.

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http://www.philly.com/philly/news/breaking/137483288.html?cmpid=15585797

Reward up to $20k now

http://m.nbcphiladelphia.com/nbcphilly/pm_108054/contentdetail.htm?contentguid=lPvuE1ND

my gut felling on this senseless act of random violence is that it was gang related and more specifically an initiation of 2 or 3 of the assailants - and the driver being a "member" and possibly the 3rd assailant who jumped in to deliver the deadly blows.

gangs in Philly are apparently quite active though rarely spoken about by the police or media since the city is in such bad shape right now they dont want to scare off tourists and business.

http://www.fbi.gov/philadelphia/about-us/partnerships/partners

The mission of the Philadelphia Violent Latin Gang Task Force is to identify violent Latin criminal gangs having the greatest impact within the Philadelphia area and to coordinate investigations with federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies in order to disrupt and dismantle significant criminal enterprises. The squad accomplishes this mission through the development of a substantial intelligence base, utilizing sophisticated investigative techniques and continuing to foster an already strong working relationship with law enforcement partners.

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http://www.ngcrc.com/ngcrc/page15.htm

A standard MO of the Latin Kings is to drive in a car, with about 4 Latin King occupants, and go out "hunting" for an opportunity for a drive-by. It is often an initiation ceremony as well.

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witness description of suspects;

The vehicle pulled over and three of the males exited the vehicle and began beating the [victim] critically injuring him.’” The three suspects are being described as, “Hispanic men with light complexions” and :

The first is about 20 years old, 5-feet, 10-inches tall with a thin build. He was wearing a white shirt with blue stripes.


The second also is about 20 years of age and about 6-feet tall with a medium build. He was wearing a maroon shirt.

The third is described only as being about 6-feet, 2-inches tall.​

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http://sheriff.snoco.org/Documents/Gang_Awareness_guide.pdf - blue & white gang colors (MS13 and Surenos 13/SUR13)

sound familiar -- http://moderntribalist.blogspot.com/2006/12/hispanics-kill-man-so-they-could-join.html

They stumbled out of a Queens bar, intent on finding someone to kill. The four men wanted to join the notorious Surenos prison gang and had decided to kill someone to meet the gang's initiation rites.

Filled with alcohol and rage, they sprung upon a group of complete strangers walking along Roosevelt Ave. in Corona, cops say. When it was over, Jorge Vasquez was dead.

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Not sure if I missed this in previous news articles regarding the events leading up to the attack.

http://mobile.philly.com/news/?wss=/philly/news/pennsylvania/&id=137402533&clmob=y&viewAll=y

At 2:25 a.m. Saturday, police said, Kless was walking on Chestnut Street in the historic district with a woman he'd recently begun dating and another female friend, after leaving Lucy's Hat Shop, a bar on Market Street in Old City. They tried to hail a cab.

A taxi came by with its light on, indicating that it was available. But it had passengers. A frustrated Kless, police investigators said, shouted to the driver something like, "Why is your f---ing light on?" or "Turn off your f---ing light!"

The cabbie stopped just long enough for Kless to yell at him, investigators said, when another car pulled up behind the cab. As Kless was arguing with the cabbie, the occupants of the other car - four men in their 20s - tried to pick up the two women, police said.

Three occupants in the car, who might have thought Kless was yelling at them, then got out of the car "and just bee-lined at Kless and just started hitting him," a police source close to the investigation told the Daily News.
The assailants kept swinging at Kless, beating and kicking him in front of the bank, police said. Investigators yesterday said that it was not clear if the assailants had smashed Kless' head against the marble wall in front of the bank, or if he had fallen and banged his head against it. In any case, he was knocked unconscious, and his assailants drove away.

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also sadly it looks like there was a delay in getting help to him since the security guards at Independence Hall did hear the womens screams but couldnt leave their posts. !!!

As the two women began screaming, private security guards in front of Independence Hall, on Chestnut between 5th and 6th, heard them. But because they were not permitted to leave their posts, they called National Park Service rangers, four of whom responded and administered first aid, police said.

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So those men might have been in a gang? Scary stuff.

gooniequeen said:

accurate description of the scumbags

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Mr. Chitwood is that you? Sorry Goonie I just had to.

GoonieQ personally I don't think it's gang related at all. Those gangs are too busy worrying about keeping their drug corners from bigger and badder guys than some poor lone guy with two women after a night out. In their 20's JMO they'd be too old to "catch a body" as in just randomly beating someone.

At first they thought the guys were Middle Eastern? Or Indian descent and now they're Latino? I wonder where they got that from?

Better bet is they were down on South Street or at a club and they did slow down to pick up the girls and this poor, poor guy gets beaten to death. Anything is possible, but I have friends that work out of the 25th and my dad did and I never heard of a big gang just randomly beating on one guy unless they were like 14 years old. Maybe they were younger?

Maybe they were from South Philly and not the Northeast or from across Pennsauken?

No words.......no words.....this just sickens me. Where is this violence coming from in our society? Anger seems to be everywhere and people have no patience. But for God;s sake-how can you stomp a person to death. I don't understand it. Are they all drunk or on drugs or have they no conscience..........If so how do they feel the next day? And the little cowards as they are do it always in groups. I wonder how cops feel going into the night. I have a cab-driver brother and I just ........pray.

Killadelphia.........rise up and take your city back.

Filly what is "Old City' and is '4th and Chestnut streets' in that area? If so is that a major entertainment district bordering a high crime area ? Or if a major entertainment/tourist area is crime escalating and what is the police presence in that part of Philadelphia.

Also-apologize for the nomenclature of Killadelphia.....but in reality.......it seems really bad right now for an ordinary citizen.

Starry Night said:

Filly what is "Old City' and is '4th and Chestnut streets' in that area? If so is that a major entertainment district bordering a high crime area ? Or if a major entertainment/tourist area is crime escalating and what is the police presence in that part of Philadelphia.

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Starry - I am a NYC transplant to Philadelphia and have been here for 12 years. Philly is my adopted hometown now and I have always loved it here. Music, food, history, art, social scene are all world class and I have never felt unsafe in this city until the past year or so (i moved to the suburbs a few years back for my kids school)

I will however say the "2 street" area in old city (where Kevin had been partying prior to the attack) is just 2 blocks of bars has always left me uneasy and honestly other than 1 bar and a music venue and a few good ethnic restaurants the place is just not my cup of tea with regards to nightlife. It attracts a young crowd that seems to be a combination of fratboys, snookie-types and thugs (right there a recipe for disaster/violence) Also, my perception is that most people who come to party their are not from Philly proper and come from North Philly, Jersey and the main line or other nearby suburbs. Your typical Philadelphia resident tend to lean more towards hipsters and artists and not the demographic that would hang on 2 street.

"old city" is a major tourist area and most out of towners that come to Philly concentrate their sightseeing here. It runs from front street along the Delaware river to about 6th street (east - west) and market street to pine street (north to south) within that small area you have 99% of the historic landmarks (liberty bell, independence hall, Benjamin Franklin/Betsy Ross etc etc) you also have a slew of restaurants, bars, clubs, residences, businesses, hotels etc) the roads are narrowish and mostly all oneway alternating. On a weekend night at 2am when the bars close down it's just utter chaos - people are drunk, cabs are in high demand and the fratboys, snookies and thugs are everywhere. fights are a common occurrence.

I ate dinner last night at the Capital Grill which is at Broad and Chestnut Sts a mere 9 blocks from were Kevin was killed. Very surreal to comprehend such a crime (which is common place in other areas of the city - after all we are trending to be the murder capital of the country) occurred where it did.

I miss my adopted city, and want it back.

Goonie thanks for that picture. And I have to say that you could be describing the 6th Street area in Austin Tx. almost to a T. Especially the part about when the bars close down. Very frightening to a parent who knows their young adult is headed downtown.

Well the Austin PD has taken positive steps to keep the thuggery down....more beat cops, strictly enforced DWI prevention measures, and cameras. But it takes a lot of police-power and a big budget to do that. I am sure it is the same for Philly.
It is the level of brutality society is fighting.

I am so so sorry for this young man and his loved ones. I hope it never happens to anyone else.

Philadelphia-The City of Brotherly Love. Love will prevail.