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MEDIA COURTHOUSE – A Collingdale man was acquitted Thursday on attempted murder and related charges following a two-day trial before Common Pleas Court Judge Kevin F. Kelly.

Shaheem N. Rice, 25, was also found not guilty of aggravated assault, robbery and firearms offenses for a shooting on the 700 block of Lincoln Avenue in Prospect Park around 7 p.m. on Jan. 18, 2019.

Jurors heard from Prospect Park Officer Kyle Gross, who made contact with the teenage victim, Avery Chandler, in the 300 block of Nassau Avenue. Chandler had been driven to that location by his friend, Kendal Brooks, with another teen, Michael Dickinson.

Chandler was bleeding heavily from the mouth when Gross encountered him and said he had been shot, then collapsed.

He was transported to Chester Crozer Medical Center for treatment while Dickinson accompanied Gross to the shooting location, a parking lot for an apartment complex at Lincoln and Seventh avenues.

Gross said a shell casing and Michigan University book bag were recovered from the scene. Broken glass also littered the area, he said.

Dickinson provided an initial statement to police that the boys had gone to buy marijuana that night, but later admitted that he was in fact the seller.

Brooks was driving and had stayed in the car in the parking lot while Dickinson and Chandler went to meet the buyer in a nearby cemetery, but Dickinson said another man he did not know arrived and put a gun in his face, then patted down his pockets.

The gunman allegedly said he wanted everything or he would kill him.

The robber, wearing a half-face covering like a ski mask or gater, led them back to the car at gunpoint.

Dickinson got into the passenger seat while Chandler got into the back. Dickinson told Chandler to give the robber the backpack, which he said contained approximately $100 in cash and two and a half ounces of marijuana.

At some point, the robber went to open the driver’s side door and pistol-whipped Brooks in the face. Chandler said he put his hand out to stop Brooks from being hit again, then saw a bright light as the muzzle flashed.

Chandler had been shot in the mouth and said he lost six teeth. He later underwent reconstructive surgery, including bone grafts from his hips, and suffered other injuries to his tongue and gums. Brooks drove away from the scene toward Nassau while Dickinson called 911.

Months passed without any break in the case until Rice was arrested on gun possession charges in Philadelphia.

Philly Officers Michael Green and Michael Schmidt testified that they were looking for another person on the 6500 block of Trinity Avenue on Aug. 16, 2019, when they encountered Rice standing with a bicycle.

Green said he spoke to Rice briefly from the passenger side of his squad car when he noticed a distinctive “L” shape in Rice’s sweatpants pockets of a handgun.

Green started to get out of the vehicle and Rice began to ride off, but Schmidt reversed the car and struck the bike tire with the open door. Rice stumbled and dropped the firearm, said Green, then took off running down an alley.

Schmidt retrieved the gun and joined Green in pursuing Rice, eventually taking him into custody. The handgun, a Smith and Wesson 9 mm, was turned over to Delaware County Detective Louis Grandizio, a firearms and tool markings expert.

Grandizio said he test fired the 9 mm and matched those fired cartridge casings to the one found in January at the crime scene.

County Detective Ed Rosen said investigators seized cellphones from Rice’s bedroom under a search warrant and found he had purchased a gun from an unknown person in July 2018, according to text messages.

Images and videos of Rice holding a black handgun were recovered from the phone, said Rosen, and metadata showed one video had been created July 13, 2018, at longitude and latitude consistent with Rice’s address on the 600 block of Hibberd Avenue in Collingdale.

Though they picked Rice out of photo arrays following his arrest, the teens were reluctant to testify or identify Rice in court. Brooks could not say Wednesday that Rice was the gunman and Chandler noted he was only testifying under threat of being arrested.

He made it abundantly clear what he thought about the prosecution.

“This does nothing for me.” Chandler told Assistant District Attorney Jason Harmon.

Without expletives he said, in part: “I’m alive, I’m cool. I’m here. I got my justice. Now, if this brings justice for everybody else here? Cool. So be it. I’m happy I can help other people. This was a moment in my life and I just had to take my lesson from it.”

Harmon acknowledged the reluctance of the witnesses to tell investigators the truth about the drug deal or even identify Rice for a variety of reasons in his closing arguments, but said Chandler’s angry testimony that Rice was the person who shot him had to be believed.

Harmon also argued that Rice ran from Philadelphia police because he knew he had a gun on him that had been used in a shooting just a few months prior.

Defense attorney Todd Fiore argued that Rice would have run regardless because he was carrying an unlicensed firearm.

Fiore also noted the robbery and shooting took place in a dark area, involving a man wearing half a face mask. He pointed to inconsistencies with the gunman’s supposed height compared to his client, a difference of 4 or 5 inches, as well as the clothing the robber was wearing.

Fiore insinuated that whoever shot Chandler that night had been tipped off about the drug deal, set up just 45 minutes beforehand, but there was no evidence the intended buyer even knew Rice and no evidence Rice knew about the deal.

Though cellphone data pinpointed where Rice made the July 2018 video, Fiore said there was no data that he was even in the area of the shooting that night. Fiore also questioned the science behind matching the shell casings.

Rice still faces firearms charges in Philadelphia. His next listing in that case in Dec. 8 before Philadelphia Common Pleas Court Judge Monica Gibbs. Rice remains free on $1,500 bail in that case.

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