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Hakeem Montes, 18, of Chester, was charged with criminal homicide, murder of the first, second, and third-degree, conspiracy, and several firearms offenses, Delaware County District Attorney Jack Stollsteimer said Thursday, April 14.
Montes is the third suspect identified in connection with the murder of 19-year-old Samad Montgomery, who was found with several gunshot wounds in the 1200 block of Clover Lane in Chester and pronounced dead at the scene on Saturday, Aug. 7, 2021, Stollsteimer said.
Kahsir Bennett, 18, was previously arrested, while Marlon Cooper, 19, is still being sought.
According to investigators, the teens were attempting to arrange an illegal gun transaction. Authorities allegedly recovered an iPhone XR at the crime scene and found that it had been used to contact Montgomery five times within the 30 minutes prior to the shooting.
Montes was also found to have been involved in discussions involving firearm sales on the iPhone, and contents on his Instagram page corroborated his motive as well, investigators said.
“We all know that illegal guns — whether ghost guns, unregistered guns, or guns owned by ineligible person — are often used in the commission of crime, and are the root cause of much of the gun violence that plagues us as a society,” said Stollsteimer.
“However, as this case makes clear, the transactions through such illegal guns are transferred are themselves the cause of much misery and death…It is a tragedy for the families, and for us as a society, that the flow of illegal firearms continues in our communities,” said Stollsteimer.
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