She saw city as ‘her playground’

NORTH PHILADELPHIA. When promoter Tommy Up met Sabina O’Donnell through his girlfriend a few years ago it didn’t take him long to admire her personality.

“She was a really nice girl and all…She kind of saw the city as a big playground,” said Up, the co-owner of PYT bar where O’Donnell worked.

Family and friends are still trying to figure out why someone savagely beat and strangled the 21-year-old outside her apartment near Fourth Street and Girard Avenue early Wednesday. Authorities believe O’Donnell was randomly attacked and robbed as she entered her apartment after coming from a night out with friends.

Police said yesterday they do not have any leads on the attacker, but are looking through surveillance footage retrieved from the area to see if anything was caught on tape.

Despite moving to the city a few years ago, O’Donnell was undeterred by violence, Up said.

“She was a harmless person and felt like everyone else was that way too. It’s a shame she had to pay for that. You don’t want people walking around in fear,” he said.

Deejays and others in the city who knew O’Donnell are putting on events to raise funds for the reward and funeral expenses, Up said.

“She really liked to dance so all these deejays are putting stuff together,” he said. “She had a big extended family.”