Cop-killer gets life in prison for 2012 slay

A North Philly man convicted in the Aug. 2012 murder of Philadelphia Police Officer Moses Walker was sentenced to lfe in prison without parole Thursday.

Rafael Jones, 23, was charged with murder, robbery and related offenses for shooting Walker to death during an attempted robbery on Aug. 18 in North Philadelphia shortly after Walker left work.

Walker, 40 worked as a turnkey in the department’s 22nd district. He was walking to public transportation when Jones and accomplice Chancier McFarland tried to rob him.

They later told police they thought he was a Temple student and would be an easy target, but Jones shot him when he ran and reached for a gun.

A graduate of Benjamin Franklin High School, Walker entered the police academy in March of 1993 at the age of 21 and was assigned to the 22nd District, where his uncle also serves as a lieutenant, a year later.

“He was known by both his fellow officers and the residents he served as a courteous, polite and humble man,” said an obituary posted on the police department’s website.

Walker was an an active member of Deliverance Evangelistic Church on the 2000 block of Lehigh Avenue in North Philadelphia. The police obituary describes him as “an optimistic man who always saw the good in people.”

McFarland pleaded guilty to third-degree murder, testified against Jones and is serving 20 to 40 years in prison.