Philly Man to Stand Trial in 3 Separate Street Killings

A 19-year-old city man has been ordered to stand trial for three separate street killings in July, plus an incident in which an accomplice allegedly wounded a cabbie in June, a string that a prosecutor called “shocking ... even in Philadelphia.”

Justin Mackie's defense attorney, Michael Medway, didn't argue against the murder charges during Wednesday's preliminary hearing, but asked a municipal judge to throw out the cabbie shooting charges by arguing that Mackie didn't know the other robbery suspect planned to shoot the victim. The judge rejected that argument.

“It's a shocking amount of violence - and how these people were shot - even in Philadelphia,” Assistant District Attorney Brendan O'Malley said of Mackie, who appeared in court with a tattoo of a flaming .38-caliber revolver on his forehead just beneath his white Muslim skull cap.

And the charges heard in court aren't the last Mackie will face.

That's because he was involved in a shootout with FBI agents and police in the city's East Mount Airy neighborhood on July 22. Mackie's brother, Tevin Hammond, 21, was killed and Mackie was wounded in the back, neck and right shoulder after allegedly firing at law enforcement officers.

City homicide Detective Henry Glenn testified that Mackie confessed two days later to the other shootings while he was recovering from his wounds at the Albert Einstein Medical Center.

Mackie first killed Carlos Barnes, 51, on July 9. Mackie went to Barnes' home to buy a gun, but instead shot Barnes once in the face and twice in the chest and stole the gun, Glenn said.

Mackie then killed 20-year-old Tyrone Hayes by shooting him five times on July 15 before killing Otif Wright three days later, Glenn testified. That happened because Mackie believed Wright had tried to set up Mackie's brother to get killed during a gun purchase.

The cabbie was wounded by another man who tried to rob the driver along with Mackie on June 4. The 25-year-old cabbie testified he grabbed the accomplice's gun, which was pressed against his head, and was, instead, shot in the elbow.