Police announced the arrests of three more men they claim were involved in a carjacking ring that included the deadly shooting of a man visiting his mother in Northeast Philadelphia last month.
Aleem Abdul-Hakim, 19; Amin Muse, 20; and Mikal McCracken, also 20, were charged with murder and multiple carjackings, Philadelphia Police Department Deputy Commissioner Ben Naish said.
Jonathan Akubu, of Philadelphia, was the alleged ringleader and the other three were his alleged accomplices, Naish said. Akubu was arrested for allegedly taking part in a carjacking ring that struck "numerous" times in the city and surrounding area in recent weeks.
Akubu, who has been arrested at least seven times in the past, including for a few violent crimes, has been charged with carjackings that involved murders of two men earlier in February, law enforcement officials said.
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Abdul-Hakim, Muse and McCracken were charged in the Feb. 6 murder of George Briscella during a carjacking, for which Akubu has also been charged, the deputy commissioner said.
Carjackings have spiked in Philadelphia, as well as other big cities across the country, since early 2020.
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There are several carjacking rings operating in the city, and police continue to investigate and make arrests, Naish said.
“The ring that was led by Mr. Akubu is no longer operating because Mr. Akubu and his associates that were committing the carjackings are now in our custody," Naish said. "So, while their activities have ceased, there are other individuals that continue to perpetrate these crimes against other people, residents, people passing through the city. And we are continuing to make numerous arrests.”
There were already 203 carjackings in Philadelphia through Feb. 22. That's a huge increase from the 78 carjackings through the same date in 2021 and 34 through the same date in 2020, according to statistics provided by the police department.
Mayor Jim Kenney said the police department has created task forces specific to carjackings and gun violence that are working in cooperation with federal authorities to stop the increase in violent crime the last three years.
"For all those who wish to sow chaos in our city, let today be a message that we simply cannot and will not accept these acts of violence," he said.
The two murders that Akubu has been charged with include the Feb. 6 deadly shooting of George Briscella during a botched carjacking on Afton Street in the Rhawnhurst section of Northeast Philadelphia. The 60-year-old man was visiting his mother at the time. An arrest in that case was previously announced over the weekend.
He is also charged with murder in the Feb. 12 deadly carjacking of a 20-year-old along the 8100 block of Grovers Avenue in the Eastwick section of Southwest Philadelphia, Naish said.
There are additional resources for people or communities that have endured gun violence in Philadelphia. Further information can be found here.
