A Philadelphia Police officer's semi-automatic service weapon was stolen and used in the murder of a retired professional boxer.
Philadelphia Police tell NBC10's Harry Hairston 21-year-old Shaquille Henderson used his aunt's stolen handgun to shoot and kill Tony Martin along the 1300 block of Butler Street on March 8.
Martin, 52, was going to collect rent from the tenants of a property he owned when he got into an argument. Martin's niece told NBC10.com the argument began when he found a person inside the home who was not supposed to be there.
As the fight escalated, Martin was shot and later died.
Deputy Police Commissioner Richard Ross says Henderson was on the run for weeks until investigators caught up with him in North Philadelphia last week.
"They recovered the weapon and it was tested through our firearms unit and it came back a conclusive match," he told Hairston in an exclusive interview Friday.
Henderson's aunt, an unidentified veteran 22nd District officer, reported her .9mm service handgun stolen last September after her home was reportedly burglarized. Officials do not believe she was involved in any way and she remains on the job.
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"There are pry marks on her door," Deputy Comm. Ross said. "At this point and time, Internal Affairs is looking at it, but they have no reason to believe that it's anything other and a legitimate burglary."
Investigators believe the stolen officer's weapon was also used in other crimes.
"We speculate that it is used in other crimes like robberies but we haven't proven that yet but it definitively comes back to a weapon used in a homicide," Deputy Comm. Ross said.
Police aren't yet sure who stole the weapon and how Henderson got the gun. The suspect has been charged with murder and related offenses in Martin's killing.
Martin moved to Philadelphia in 1985 to train as a boxer. He also served as a postal clerk. He is survived by his wife and four grown children.
Contact Vince Lattanzio at 610.668.5532, vince.lattanzio@nbcuni.com or follow @VinceLattanzio on Twitter.
