One suspect is awaiting sentencing and federal agents are searching for another wanted in connection with the April 2023 fatal shooting of a 33-year-old man outside a North Philadelphia cellphone store.
Seitu Harris was killed following a brief exchange of words with the two gunmen on Girard Avenue near Watts Street. The District Attorney’s Office highlighted the case during a news conference Tuesday.
“Everyone does not know each other,” said Assistant District Attorney Teresa Benavides-Sexton. “There is no prior relationship between any of the people involved.”
The suspects – Daniel Gonzalez, now 21, and Deonte Davis, who remains at large – allegedly approached Harris just after noon April 24 as the victim was smoking a cigarette with a friend outside a Cricket Wireless shop.
A short verbal altercation ensued between Davis and Harris, and the two suspects pulled out handguns and held them at their sides, authorities said. Then, Davis went to check for witnesses inside the store before firing the first shot, according to prosecutors.
Benavides-Sexton told reporters that both men proceeded to shoot multiple times. In addition to Harris, one of the bullets struck a 20-year-old male pedestrian in the neck, leaving him with serious injuries, she added.
Gonzalez then hopped a turnstile at the Broad Street Line’s Girard stop, leaving a large handprint that was later used as evidence in his bench trial. Crime scene investigators also pulled prints from the store’s front door, prosecutors said.
Investigators found photographs from Gonzalez’s Instagram account that showed him wearing the same “Thrasher” hooded sweatshirt and red sneakers as one of the suspects caught on surveillance footage, according to the DA’s Office.
Harris, who was arrested two weeks after the shooting, was found guilty of third-degree murder, conspiracy, weapons violations and related crimes Aug. 29. His attorney, Douglas Dolfman, said he is hoping for a reasonable punishment within judicial guidelines at sentencing, which is scheduled for Nov. 1.
“The defense always contended, from Day One, that Mr. Daniel Gonzalez was not the actual shooter that killed the victim,” Dolfman told Metro.
The U.S. Marshals Service, meanwhile, is searching for Davis, prosecutors said. Anyone with information about his whereabouts is asked to call the agency’s tip line at 1-877-WANTED-2.
Patricia Harris, the victim’s older sister, spoke at Tuesday’s press conference. She said her brother loved music and did a lot to help people in the community.
“My brother Seitu was a good person,” she added. “He wasn’t a thug. He wasn’t a gangster. He wasn’t a rapper. He was just a singer, a guy that liked to sing in church.”
