A man was charged this week with first-degree murder in Harrisburg for the shooting death of a visitor to the city last month.
Lateef B. Phoenix, 38, of Harrisburg was charged by the police with shooting and killing Darius Stukeson on November 2 at an intersection on Allison Hill.
Around 2:30 in the morning, Stukes, 34, was discovered near Hunter and Nectarine streets with five gunshot wounds, according to the police. Nectarine Street is an alley in a residential neighborhood close to the city’s Boys & Girls Club that connects to the busier Hunter Street.
After being transported to UPMC Harrisburg Hospital, Stukes passed away.
Phoenix has been charged with murder and four other firearm counts in addition to tampering with evidence. He’s still out there.
The following information was provided in an affidavit of probable cause against Phoenix:
Stukes’ girlfriend said to authorities that on the night of November 1, just hours before the incident, Phoenix picked him up at the couple’s York residence.
That evening, the men headed to the Political Club on the 1500 block of Vernon Street after meeting up with two women at Crawdaddy’s, a restaurant in Harrisburg. According to court filings, Stukes was urging individuals to call him if they wanted to buy marijuana while he was at the club with a satchel of the drug.
Early on November 2, Phoenix, Stukes, and the two women drove out of the Political Club in a Nissan Maxima. Phoenix instructed one of the women to exit the vehicle as they arrived at the intersection of Swatara and Nectarine streets. According to the affidavit, Stukes challenged the exiting woman, who instructed him to exit the vehicle as well so they could speak.
According to the police affidavit of the woman’s account of that night, Stukes insisted on walking her home after she and he got out of Phoenix’s car at Swatara and Nectarine streets.
According to the affidavit, Phoenix exited the vehicle, approached Stukes from behind, and started shooting as he left with her. Hearing gunshots, the woman Stukes was walking with began to flee.
What did I do, bro? What the [expletive]? According to court filings, the woman informed officers what she heard Phoenix say as she ran away.
According to the affidavit, Phoenix removed Stukes’ marijuana bag as he lay on the ground, dying from four bullet wounds to his chest and a shot to his head.
According to the woman, she noticed Stukes’ body laying at Hunter and Nectarine after running to Crescent Street and turning east into Hunter Street.
Several persons were seen on nearby Berryhill Street during the shooting, according to surveillance film, but they were not involved in the murder and quickly fled the scene, police claimed in court filings.
According to the affidavit, the second woman waiting in the Nissan observed Phoenix get back inside the car after hearing the gunfire. He got behind the wheel and instructed the woman to duck down as he drove back to her home in the 1400 block of Rolleston Street, according to court filings.
According to court filings, she claimed that when she went inside to find Phoenix doing laundry, she found it strange. According to the affidavit, Phoenix provided the woman two telephones in the days that followed, and he attempted to delete them both.
According to court filings, Phoenix was pacing and acting strangely when he handed the woman the phones and expressed regret for putting her in the middle of the situation.
Phoenix is prohibited from carrying a firearm due to a 2015 conviction for felony narcotics possession, according to the affidavit.
Despite Phoenix being charged this week, eight of the 21 homicides that were reported in Harrisburg in 2024 are still unsolved.
According to authorities, Darius Stukes, 34, was shot many times close to the intersection of Hunter and Nectarine streets on November 2 and died as a result.
Harrisburg Police is credited.Police in Harrisburg
Crime and court news
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