PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) – Wanted on a third-degree murder charge for hitting a man outside a bar in downtown Philadelphia earlier this month, police said.
24-year-old Kenneth Fry of block 1800 on Susquehanna Avenue is wanted for the death of 41-year-old Eric Pope, the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office said Wednesday afternoon.
Police say Pope was escorted by the Tabu Bar and Lounge on April 16 for drunkenness. Then he was hit by Fry.
Pope fell to the ground and died of his injuries, including a brain injury, at the hospital days after the accident.
Taboo says that Fry was not a bar employee. Sources in Action News say he worked for a private security company.
SEE ALSO: Man dies after being punched in front of Center City bar
The events leading up to the strike are still being investigated.
Society demands answers.
Activists from the LGBTQ community gathered in front of the Tabu Bar and Lounge on Tuesday.
“He was killed and he was killed by someone, a security guard who I think was homophobic and had some serious problems,” said Asa Khalifa, an organizer of the LGBTQ community.
Rico Conforti, a longtime friend of Pope’s, says he didn’t deserve to die that way.
“It’s amazing. It’s awful,” Conforti said.
There have been other incidents in recent weeks at bars in downtown City involving the same security company, according to police reports from Action News.
An incident was recorded on March 27 at 2:45 am at the Voyeur nightclub.
“The club’s security guards beat the applicant. The applicant received a broken sublingual bone … “, the police report reads.
A second incident occurred on April 3 around 1 a.m. at U Bar.
“The guards … strangled and knocked the applicant to the ground. The applicant received a head injury,” the police report of the April 3 incident said.
LGBTQ activists say they simply hope the charges against the killer who hit Pope are commensurate with the crime.
“It was a hate crime and we want federal charges against them. We also want the legal profession to be held accountable, because they are equally responsible, “Khalifa said.
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