Fatal stabbing is city’s first homicide of ‘08

By Kathleen Brady Shea

INQUIRER STAFF WRITER

The city's first 2008 homicide occurred about 3 a.m. today in Southwest Philadelphia, police said.

Officers responded to the 2000 block of South 67th Street and found a 55-year-old white male lying on the sidewalk. He was taken to the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, where he was pronounced dead at 3:30 a.m. The victim's name will not be released until relatives are notified, police said.

Police said the victim was fatally stabbed during an altercation with another man that began at his residence and ended several doors away. An investigation is continuing.

Talk about an unlucky contestant. As you can see I have cleared the carnage meters but couldn't even get one day with all zeros. Nice huh? Welcome to Killadelphia 2008 edition folks. I had the distinct displeasure of working New Years Eve this year. I usually take a very pragmatic view of getting stuck working this Holiday. If I wasn't at the Firehouse I would be home with my family. They don't call it "Amateur Night" for nothing. This year was no exception. As you can see from the news we have already had our first homicide and *Gasp* it wasn't a shooting. Thats right it was an old fashioned stabbing. Now thats what I call nostalgia.

I heard this incident come in on the radio. Someone was being rushed to the Hospital with no vitals. Thats never good. It was sheer madness starting at around 12:30 AM. The system ran out of ambulances as expected and the runs kept piling up until around 04:30. Run after run for unresponsive people AKA "Drunks" and trauma's mostly assaults kept the Medics and everyone else running non stop. There were also a few fires thrown in for good measure.