Accused killer: Girlfriend shot herself in chest

MEDIA COURTHOUSE >> A 31-year-old Philadelphia man who claims his girlfriend accidentally shot herself in the chest was formally arraigned Thursday on criminal homicide and related charges for the May 19 shooting death of 26-year-old Crystalyn Thomas, of Darby.

Edward Moses Jr. was also arraigned on charges of first- and third-degree murder, firearms not be carried without a license, possessing an instrument of crime and aggravated assault before Delaware County Common Pleas Court President Judge Kevin F. Kelly.

Defense attorney Dave Iannucci entered a plea of not guilty on his client’s behalf.

Darby Borough police were dispatched to the victim’s home in the 100 block of Spring Valley Road shortly after 7:30 a.m. May 19 for a report of a possible dead on arrival victim, according to an affidavit of probable cause written by Detective Brian Pitts. Thomas, a mother of two, had suffered a gunshot wound to the chest, according to authorities.

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The victim was found unresponsive by her 6-year-old daughter, who called her grandmother at about 7:15 a.m., the affidavit states. The victim’s mother came to the house and found the front door open, so she proceeded upstairs and discovered her daughter in the bathroom.

Responding officers found Thomas kneeling face-down half inside the bathtub with her legs on the bathroom floor. Her mother said she had turned off the running shower when she arrived, according to the affidavit.

Thomas suffered a single gunshot wound to her upper left chest that appeared to exit the middle of her back, according to police. There was a large amount of blood in the front bedroom and a .40-caliber shell casing, as well as a damaged television that appeared to have been shot, the affidavit states.

The child told police her father, later identified as Moses, had come to the house the night before, but she did not hear her mother and father arguing.

Police were notified during the initial investigation that morning that Moses was among a group outside the residence. He was transported to the police department for questioning, according to the affidavit.

Moses initially stated that he had come over the day before to install an air conditioner, then went to a club where his friend was DJing. He said he was texting and video chatting with the victim while he was at the club, but did not return to the house that night.

Two witnesses meanwhile came forward and told police they had seen Moses at the residence the night before. Witness #1 described hearing a loud banging sound at about 1:10 a.m. and saw a slim black male wearing a red tank running from the front of Spring Valley Road to a parked blue Pontiac Grand Prix in the rear. The witness recognized the car and identified the man as “a friend of the victim’s,” according to the affidavit.

The second witness saw a dark sedan park behind the victim’s home at about 12:30 a.m. and identified the driver as Moses, according to the affidavit. Around 1 or 1:30 a.m., the second witness heard running outside but did not look out a window. When the witness looked outside again, the vehicle was gone, according to the affidavit.

The first witness accompanied Pitts to Moses’ home in the area of 77th Street and Buist Avenue in Philadelphia, and positively identified the Pontiac outside as the same one parked behind the victim’s house the night before. The vehicle was towed to the police station.

When asked where he lived, Moses initially gave an address on the 6700 block of Paschall Avenue, but later confirmed the 77th Street address, according to the affidavit. He provided investigators with keys to his apartment, where a .40 caliber Smith and Wesson pistol, two loaded magazines and a red tank top were retrieved. Police also found a pair of sneakers that appeared to have blood on them, according to the affidavit.

Pitts confronted Moses about his story and told him he knew he was at the house the night before, to which Moses allegedly replied, “Man, listen it was an accident, she shot herself.”

Moses allegedly told Pitts in a recorded statement that he picked up some beer for Thomas after the club at her request and put it into a backpack with the loaded handgun.

Moses said he and Thomas were in the bedroom and the bag was on the corner of the bed when she “aggressively” went to get the beer from behind him, accidently hitting the trigger with her thumb, according to the affidavit. He said Thomas did not know the gun was in the bag and only one shot was fired.

Pitts had Moses demonstrate the positioning of his and Thomas’s bodies when this allegedly occurred, according to the affidavit, with Pitts re-enacting Thomas reaching across Moses as she went into the bag several times. Moses said the television was positioned behind his left shoulder.

“I then asked Moses how it was possible that a shot is fired, hits her in the chest and then goes around him, to the other side of the room and into a television,” Pitts said in the affidavit. “Moses stated I don’t know how that works, I don’t know, I didn’t do it, it wasn’t intentional.” (sic)

Pitts indicates in the affidavit that he told Moses he had “serious concerns” with his story and that it was impossible for the shooting to occur the way he described. Moses said he did not know how it happened and denied playing with or showing off the gun.

After Thomas was shot, Moses said he panicked and blacked out, “yelled help, help, help, and got into the car and went home,” the affidavit states. He at first said he grabbed the gun and put it in the bag, then said the gun had fallen back into the bag, which he took with him.

Moses later clarified that he had not blacked out, “he just didn’t know what to do,” according to the affidavit. He also indicated he was driving the Pontiac that night wearing the clothes retrieved from his apartment and identified the handgun retrieved from his apartment as the same one that had shot Thomas, according to the affidavit.

Kelly has set a pretrial conference date of Sept. 18. Assistant District Attorney Christopher DiRosato is prosecuting.