Tuesday, September 23, 2008

What does it take to get some real prison time around here?

From today's Wilkes-Barre Citizens' Voice:

Plymouth shooting suspect surrenders
The suspect in Saturday’s deadly shooting at a Plymouth bar surrendered Monday afternoon just as police were about to storm a Plymouth Township home to nab him.

BY BOB KALINOWSKI, STAFF WRITER
Published: Tuesday, September 23, 2008 4:09 AM EDT

The suspect in Saturday’s deadly shooting at a Plymouth bar surrendered Monday afternoon just as police were about to storm a Plymouth Township home to nab him.

“There was a massive police presence … They were about to serve a search warrant, and out walked the defendant,” Luzerne County District Attorney Jackie Musto Carroll said.

Investigators charged Jeremy R. Kendricks, whose street name is “Squirm,” with a single count of criminal homicide.

The 26-year-old alleged killer was arraigned by Magisterial District Judge Donald Whittaker in Nanticoke, and ordered jailed in the Luzerne County Correctional Facility without bail.

Police accuse Kendricks of gunning down and killing a man inside a crowded Bull Run Tavern around 1:30 a.m. Saturday.

“It’s surprising no one else was killed,” Musto Carroll said.

Witnesses told investigators Kendricks pulled a silver handgun and repeatedly shot Kirk Lipscomb, 26, of Scranton.

Another man, David Green, also of Scranton, was wounded as shots continued to ring out, witnesses said.

Lipscomb later died on the operating table in Geisinger Wyoming Valley Medical Center in Plains Township. Green was released from the hospital on Sunday.

Tips from the public led police to the home in Plymouth Township, Musto Carroll said.

“We’re very satisfied with the police work. It was through their efforts he was caught,” Musto Carroll said. “The public can rest.”

A witness told police Kendricks had assaulted people at the bar a week earlier, but no one reported it. Police have not said if Kendricks is responsible for Green’s injuries.

Kendricks was represented at Monday’s arraignment by attorney Demetrius Fannick. Fannick said his office and Kendricks’ family had discussed the possibility of a surrender, but the police investigation led to the Plymouth Township home before one could be negotiated.

“It’s important to note, this was a peaceable surrender,” Fannick said.

At his arraignment, Kendricks told the judge he did not have a permanent address. Kendricks has been arrested 16 times since turning 18 in 2000, and court records list various addresses for him in Wilkes-Barre over the years.


Some of his previous arrests include:

  • Kendricks and five others broke into Valentine Jewelers in Dallas on April 11, 2000, and stole $3,000 worth of jewelry. He pleaded guilty to charges of burglary and carrying a firearm without a license.
  • Kendricks pleaded guilty to statutory sexual assault after he and another man were charged with giving alcohol to two 13-year-old girls and a 15-year-old girl and forcibly having sex with them in Nanticoke on Sept. 21, 2002.
  • He pleaded guilty to an attempted burglary of Bedwick’s Pharmacy on Hazle Street on Feb. 9, 2005.

Kendricks’ preliminary hearing is scheduled for Oct. 2 in front of Whittaker.

2 comments:

hedera said...

We in Oakland, California have entire POPULATIONS of people like this running around. Our major issue is the number of Oakland homies who DO go to jail; when they make parole, the board simply dumps them - back in Oakland...

Anonymous said...

I miss you so much Kirk .... i still cant believe you gone. Everyday I think of you