Police have identified a 12-year-old boy who they say was found shot to death inside a trash can in Philadelphia last week.
Police said the investigation began Tuesday, Aug. 22, when a Philadelphia Housing Authority (PHA) sanitation worker picked up a trash container from the 5500 block of Cherry Street and took it to a nearby storage facility where it was housed overnight.
The worker then discovered a body inside the container the next morning, according to investigators.
"On August 23, that same PHA employee drove the sanitation truck, with the container, back to the 5500 block of Cherry Street to gather more trash," Philadelphia Police Staff Inspector Ernest Ransom, who leads the city's homicide unit, said during a press conference on Thursday. "During the drive, the container overturned and the remains of a male were observed inside that container with a plastic wrapped around the head with a comforter over him."
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Police responded to the 5500 block of Cherry Street that morning at 10:24 a.m., according to investigators. They then found the boy's body.
The boy was pronounced dead by responding medics two minutes later and the victim was transported to the Medical Examiner’s Office for further investigation, police said.
On Thursday, police announced that medical examiners identified the boy as 12-year-old Hezekiah Bernard.
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Police said the autopsy showed Bernard was shot in the head and they ruled his death a homicide.
"He was brutally killed and placed in a trash can," Staff Inspector Ransom said.
Police said they received their first break in the case Tuesday, nearly a week after the discovery of the body. Family members were made aware and were able to positively identify the boy, according to police.
"The focus of this investigation is the swift apprehension of those involved in this senseless death."
This investigation remains active and ongoing.
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