US Airways employee and passenger are being questioned after an unloaded handgun was discovered aboard a Phoenix-bound flight

US Airways employee and passenger are being questioned after an unloaded handgun was discovered aboard a Phoenix-bound flight originating in Philadelphia, reports CBS News correspondent Bob Orr. Souces say a passenger allegedly handed a bag containing the weapon to an airline employee, who bypassed the security screening before giving it back to the passenger, reports Orr. Ammunition was also found on the plane. Another passenger saw the suspicious hand-off and alerted authorities. The gun was found during a subsequent search of the plane. The flight taxied back to the gate and all the passengers were removed, reports Orr. Sources says the incident appears to be isolated and is not related to terrorism. Investigators do not believe the suspected passenger intended to use the gun on the flight but was simply trying to elude security in order to carry the weapon to Phoenix, reports Orr. The FBI, Transportation Security Administration and Philadelphia law enforcement are investigating the incident. No charges have been filed.

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Dwight Dixon who says he was shot by Indianapolis Colts receiver Marvin Harrison was convicted of a misdemeanor Wednesday for lying to Police

Dwight Dixon who says he was shot by Indianapolis Colts receiver Marvin Harrison was convicted of a misdemeanor Wednesday for lying to Philadelphia police about the shooting. A municipal court judge acquitted Dwight Dixon of two related misdemeanors after tossing out two of three statements he gave police, who had evicted Dixon’s lawyer from his hospital room after the shooting. Dixon, 32, initially told police his name was Malik Turner and that he was shot by two strangers who robbed him in West Philadelphia, several officers testified. Dixon had been shot in the hand and apparently struck in the head with a gun in the April 28 incident. Police took him from the hospital to a police station, where they interviewed him twice more. Dixon eventually told a homicide detective his real name and said he was shot at the North Philadelphia location, Detective Omar Jenkins testified. Police soon found his pickup truck riddled with shell casings and bullet holes. Dixon’s lawyers said he lied to police because he feared Harrison. They noted that a bystander struck by a bullet at the scene was put in protective custody for two weeks. “He was scared, that’s why he contacted Mr. (Joseph) Santaguida,” defense lawyer Robert Gamburg argued, referring to the attorney Dixon called to the hospital. “He is still scared for his life.” Santaguida told The Associated Press on Tuesday that the first thing Dixon said to him at the hospital was that the All-Pro receiver was the shooter. “I walk into his room and Dwight whispers to me, ‘Marvin Harrison shot me,’” Santaguida told the AP. “He didn’t know what to do. He was worried about saying anything because of retribution if word got out and people thought he was a rat.” Harrison’s lawyer, Jerome Brown, declined comment Wednesday on the allegation. The assault occurred nine months ago near Harrison’s car wash in North Philadelphia. On Jan. 6, Philadelphia District Attorney Lynne Abraham said investigators had determined that five of six bullet casings found at the scene came from a Belgian-made handgun owned by Harrison, but said there were too many conflicting accounts of who fired it.
Dixon, a huge man with a shaved head and Mr. T-style beard, has a civil suit pending against Harrison over his injuries. Dixon complained after Wednesday’s verdict that Harrison has gotten favorable treatment from authorities. “He shoots me and is free to go on living in his luxury suburban house and I get charged,” Dixon said. Santaguida did not repeat the hospital conversation when he took the witness stand Wednesday. But he said he emphatically told police that Dixon did not want to talk. Dixon was also worried about his parole status, Santaguida testified. Dixon served a 5- to 10-year prison term for a parole violation stemming from a 1994 drug case. He remains on parole, and was briefly handcuffed after Wednesday’s conviction for allegedly violating parole again. He was released after Gamburg said Dixon plans to appeal the misdemeanor case. Assistant District Attorney Thomas Lipscomb said he was satisfied with the verdict. Harrison was questioned by police soon after the shooting. He said he was at his car wash at the time of the shooting; that he knew Dixon; and that the two had been in a fist fight two weeks earlier after Dixon tried to bring a gun into a bar Harrison owns, Abraham has said. Harrison said his gun had been at his suburban home the day of the shooting and that it had not been fired since he bought it, Abraham said. Police instead found the weapon at Harrison’s car wash a day after the shooting. In announcing three weeks ago that they did not have enough evidence to charge anyone with the shooting, prosecutors said they will monitor depositions in Dixon’s civil case and the criminal case remains open.

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Levon Warner arrested for the killing of a Philadelphia officer during a robbery

Philadelphia police announced just before 8 a.m. Sunday that one person was arrested for the killing of a Philadelphia officer during a robbery, and they have the warrant to arrest another person.During a news conference late Sunday morning, Philadelphia Police released more names linked to the murder of Sergeant Stephen Liczbinski.The man in custody and charged with robbery, murder and other crimes has been identified as 38-year-old Levon Warner. Police are trying to find 34-year-old Eric DeShawn Floyd. Investigators say he recently escaped from a halfway house in Reading, Pa., and he should be considered armed and dangerous.
A third suspect, now identified as 33-year-old Howard Cain, was shot and killed during a confrontation with Philadelphia Police.Liczbinski, 39 years old and serving in the 24th District, encountered suspects from the holdup of a Bank of America branch inside the Shop Rite located at 3547 Aramingo Avenue around 11:26 a.m. Saturday. On the 2500 block of E. Schiller Street, Liczbinski found a dark-colored Jeep that the suspects used to get away. At least one of the suspects drew an assault-type weapon and fired shots at Liczbinski, fatally wounding the officer.Philadelphia Police Commissioner Charles H. Ramsey told reporters, "It is my understanding that he was either in the car or had just gotten out of the car at the time he was struck."Sgt. Liczbinski was shot three times, suffering wounds to the face and abdomen. He was rushed to Northeastern Hospital then transferred to Temple University Hospital, where he later died.A short time later officers spotted the suspects inside a van in the 500 block of E. Louden Street. One suspect, now identified as Cain, was shot and later died at Einstein Medical Center. Crime scene investigators collected a weapon, an SKS assault rifle, from the sidewalk near the van. The gun was loaded with 25 rounds.Warner had initially reported a Town and Country minivan stolen. The minivan reported stolen by Werner is the minivan that police recovered along the 500 block of E. Louden Street. Inside the van, police found a fully-loaded revolver, 2 sets of Muslim clothing about $38,000 in cash and 2 GPS tracking devices. Nearby, next to a trash can, police also found another fully-loaded gun and more clothing that was linked to the initial bank robbery.During the night Saturday, police were engaged in an all-out manhunt for the suspect or suspects that got away. SWAT teams went door to door searching for the cop killers.
Police are now looking into possible links between the suspects in this crime and other robberies in the city in which the perpetrators were wearing Muslim clothing.
During their investigation, along the 3400 block of North Miller Street, police found a Jeep that had been reported stolen Friday. This is the vehicle was the Jeep involved in the shooting death of Officer Liczbinski, according to police.
Liczbinski, a 12-year veteran of the department, was recently promoted to the rank of sergeant. He would have celebrated his 40th birthday this coming Tuesday, May 6th. Liczbinski is survived by his wife Michele, sons Matt and Stephen, and daughter Amber.

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Mustafa Ali,Jason Lighty

Mustafa Ali, 36, is charged with killing armored car guards William Widmaier, 65, and Joseph Alullo, 54, on Oct. 4 as they were servicing an ATM outside a Wachovia bank in Northeast Philadelphia.
Police found the 9 mm semiautomatic pistol where Ali told them he had buried it, investigators said.
Authorities arrested Jason Lighty, 26, who they said legally bought the pistol in a gun shop in 2003. He later illegally sold it to his co-worker Eric Benson, 25, who also was arrested, Abraham said.
Lighty's attorney, James A. Funt, said his client is a churchgoing, law-abiding husband and father of two toddlers. He wanted the gun out of his house and sold it to a co-worker who said he was the victim of a robbery and assault, Funt said.
Lighty "made a very bad lapse in judgment ... but does not fit the profile (of a straw purchaser) in any way, shape or form," Funt said.
Benson did not yet have an attorney in the gun case, according to court records, and a telephone number for him could not be found.
Investigators are continuing to look into whether others had the gun before it allegedly made its way into Ali's hands.

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William Widmaier, Mustafa Ali

Mustafa Ali, 36, is charged with killing armored car guards William Widmaier, 65, and Joseph Alullo, 54, on Oct. 4 as they were servicing an ATM outside a Wachovia bank in Northeast Philadelphia.
Police found the 9 mm semiautomatic pistol where Ali told them he had buried it, investigators said.
Authorities arrested Jason Lighty, 26, who they said legally bought the pistol in a gun shop in 2003. He later illegally sold it to his co-worker Eric Benson, 25, who also was arrested, Abraham said.
Lighty's attorney, James A. Funt, said his client is a churchgoing, law-abiding husband and father of two toddlers. He wanted the gun out of his house and sold it to a co-worker who said he was the victim of a robbery and assault, Funt said.
Lighty "made a very bad lapse in judgment ... but does not fit the profile (of a straw purchaser) in any way, shape or form," Funt said.
Benson did not yet have an attorney in the gun case, according to court records, and a telephone number for him could not be found.
Investigators are continuing to look into whether others had the gun before it allegedly made its way into Ali's hands.
Felons are prohibited from owning firearms. Those trying to get guns typically enlist straw purchasers, who then commonly report the guns as stolen in an attempt to avoid liability if the weapons are used in crimes, authorities say.
The alleged straw buyers _ two of whom are women accused of buying guns for their boyfriends _ face felony charges including making false statements in connection with a firearm, transfer of a firearm to an ineligible person and other counts. Abraham said in cases when the straw purchaser knew the gun would be used in a crime, they could be charged as an accessory before the fact.
"We want to send a message to the straw purchasers that this is something you don't want to do," Corbett said.
Straw purchasers should serve time in state prison, not simply be sentenced to probation, because they are "aiding in the violence that is striking this city," Corbett said.
In all, 112 arrests have been made and 190 firearms seized since the December 2006 creation of the task force, which includes 27 investigators and about five prosecutors working with city police.
Abraham said the task force existed largely through the efforts of state Sen. Vincent Fumo, who worked to get $5 million from the Legislature for 2007 and is seeking the same amount for this year.

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shot into a house filled with party goers

Philadelphia officials are being asked how police officers responding to celebratory New Year's Eve gunfire ended up shooting innocent bystanders.
It's the second year in a row that it's happened.
This year, police chasing an armed reveler shot into a house where a party was going on. The shots left one man in a coma, a second man wounded and a 9-year-old boy with a graze wound Police who were chasing an armed reveler, shot into a house filled with party goers, leaving one in a coma and a 9-year-old boy with a graze wound to the chest.
A year ago, officers shot a man in the back of the head and killed him when he tried to flee as neighbors shot guns into the air.
The new incident comes as Commissioner Sylvester Johnson ends a six-year tenure marred by gun violence and Philly police responses to it.
"It seems that there's too much of a policy to shoot first and worry about the outcome later," said Bruce Ginsburg, an attorney representing two of the shooting victims. "It puts everybody in the city in danger.
Mr. Johnson defended his officers but promised an investigation into the incident.
"It's hard for you to say when an officer has a gun pointed at him, is he reacting too fast? We had one (officer) killed, we had six others who were shot" this year, he said Thursday at his final news conference.
His replacement, Charles Ramsey, has pledged to address the number of police shootings. Mr. Ramsey, formerly the police chief of Washington, D.C., said such shootings there fell 77 percent during his tenure.

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