LOWER MERION — A Philadelphia man has been charged in connection with the alleged gunshot slaying of another man along City Avenue in Lower Merion Township.
Tyreese D. Quinerley, 39, of the 2700 block of North Dover Street, surrendered to authorities on Tuesday afternoon and was awaiting arraignment on charges of first- and third-degree murder, persons not to possess a firearm and possession of an instrument of crime in connection with the alleged 11 p.m. April 14, 2024, gunshot slaying of Jefferson Shackford near the intersection of City and Cardinal avenues in Lower Merion.
Quinerley’s arrest was announced by Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin R. Steele and Lower Merion Township Acting Police Superintendent Eugene J. Pasternak.
On Tuesday morning, Steele announced a warrant for Quinerley’s arrest, adding, “He is to be considered armed and dangerous” and asked the public to call 911 if they saw Quinerley.
But shortly before 2 p.m. Tuesday, Quinerley turned himself in to Lower Merion police and county detectives.
The investigation began about 11 p.m. April 14 when Lower Merion police responded to the area of City and Cardinal avenues after a male called 911 and “was yelling and kept disconnecting with the 911 operators,” according to a criminal complaint filed by county Detective Heather Long and Lower Merion Detective David Herbst.
Arriving officers observed a green Chevrolet Express van in the southbound right-hand lane of City Avenue and an unresponsive male, identified as Shackford, on the sidewalk on the passenger side of the van, according to the arrest affidavit.
Officials said Shackford, 39, lived unhoused in Northwest Philadelphia.
Quinerley, the operator of the van, allegedly told detectives he was traveling south on City Avenue when he observed the victim lying on the sidewalk and stopped to help him. At the time, Quinerley appeared to be sweating profusely on his face and head, court papers indicate.
“Quinerley told the officers that he stopped because he almost struck the victim and only stopped to render aid, as he did not know the victim,” Long and Herbst alleged, adding the interaction was captured by police body-worn cameras. “Officers identified Quinerley and allowed him to leave.”
As Shackford was being prepared by emergency medical officials for transport to a hospital they observed what they believed was a gunshot wound to Shackford’s side. Shackford was transported to Lankenau Medical Center where he was pronounced dead.
After an autopsy, a forensic pathologist determined that Shackford’s cause of death was multiple gunshot wounds and the manner of death was ruled to be homicide.
“One gunshot wound consisted of an entry wound to Shackford’s back with an exit through the right armpit. The other gunshot wound consisted of an entry wound to Shackford’s left upper arm,” Long and Herbst alleged.
Detectives said Shackford went by the nickname “Creek” and had a tattoo on his stomach that read “King Creek.”
A review of recordings of the 911 calls made by Quinerley revealed that Quinerley referred to the victim as “Creek” as if he knew the victim, according to the criminal complaint.
Shackford was found possessing a cellphone. Court documents indicate that detectives found another cellphone, discarded near a construction fence about 30 feet from where Shackford was found lying on the sidewalk, and linked that phone to Quinerley.
During the investigation, detectives obtained cellphone call detail records that showed there had been numerous cellphone communications between Shackford and Quinerely on April 13.
Quinerley’s phone records also showed that just after he called 911, he was talking with a female, who was interviewed by detectives. The female witness confirmed she was talking with Quinerley while the police were at the scene and she confirmed that Quinerley and Shackford were from “the same neighborhood,” according to the criminal complaint.
Detectives also obtained video surveillance footage from the area and statements from at least two witnesses in the area and determined Quinerley’s Chevrolet Express van stopped near City and Cardinal avenues, where Quinerley allegedly got out of the van, stood near the center of the roadway and fired two gunshots into his vehicle.
Quinerley, according to the video surveillance footage, then walked to the passenger side of the vehicle “and could be seen removing the victim from the vehicle and placing him on the ground,” Long and Herbst alleged.
Witnesses told detectives the male driver and shooter was wearing a gray sweat suit and they provided a description to detectives that matched Quinerley’s description, which was substantiated by the body-worn police camera that recorded Quinerley when police made contact with him, after the 911 calls, at the scene of the incident.
In court papers, detectives alleged Quinerley has “an extensive criminal history,” including an arrest and guilty plea to aggravated assault in 2009 and arrests and guilty pleas to possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance in 2014 and 2016.
“These arrests and subsequent guilty pleas make him a person not to possess a firearm,” detectives alleged in the arrest affidavit.
