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NORRISTOWN — A jury determined a Philadelphia man did not intend to kill another man when he fired multiple gunshots at the unarmed victim who suffered serious injuries, including the loss of his testicles, during an altercation on a Lower Merion parking lot.
Parnell Christopher Glover, 37, of the unit block of East Cliveden Street, was acquitted in Montgomery County Court on Wednesday of a charge of attempted homicide in connection with the June 18, 2023, shooting incident that occurred on the parking lot of the former Lord & Taylor store in the 100 block of East City Avenue in Lower Merion.
With its verdict, the jury of six men and six women agreed with defense lawyers Eric Scott Donato and Prince Yakubu that Glover did not have the specific intent to kill when he fired five gunshots at the victim during an altercation that occurred during a Father’s Day custody exchange involving Glover’s toddler son.
Glover, who claimed he acted in self-defense during the altercation, did not react to the verdict. The jury deliberated about 2½ hours before reaching the verdict after hearing three days of testimony.
While the jury acquitted Glover of the most serious charge lodged against him, it did convict him of numerous other charges including aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, recklessly endangering other persons, simple assault and endangering the welfare of a child in connection with injuries suffered by the victim as well as by Glover’s 5-year-old son, who suffered a gunshot wound to his foot when one of the bullets accidentally struck him during the gunfire.
Judge Thomas M. DelRicci deferred sentencing until later this year so that court officials can complete a background investigation report about Glover, including a mental health evaluation. Glover told the judge he suffered from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder after the shooting.
Glover, a graduate of the University of Pittsburgh with a degree in business finance, potentially faces several years in prison on the charges of which he was convicted.
During the trial, Assistant District Attorney Tanner Christian Beck argued Glover was upset that the victim was dating his former girlfriend, the mother of Glover’s child, and was becoming a father figure to his son.
Prosecutors presented jurors with numerous text message exchanges between Glover and the victim, over the course of several months, as evidence of growing animosity between the men. During some of those exchanges Glover took issue with the victim performing fatherly duties like bathing his son and the victim threatened to beat up Glover, according to testimony.
Beck and co-prosecutor Bradley Walter Deckel argued Glover had a specific intent to kill when he fired gunshots at the victim during the altercation that included shoving and punching.
“He escalated this from a fistfight to shooting someone multiple times. Every time he pulled that trigger he told you what his intent was,” Beck argued to the jury during his closing statement.
Deckel argued during his opening statement to jurors that “the specific intent to kill can be formed very quickly” and that Glover, with his conduct, disregarded a risk that he could cause bodily injury to others, including to his child.
Beck argued Glover did not have a reasonable belief that he needed to use deadly force during what was a fistfight. Beck added, “He had a duty to retreat from this incident and he chose not to.”
Beck suggested the reason Glover stopped shooting at the victim was when he realized a bullet had also struck his little boy and he went into “Dad mode” and went to aid his son.
But Donato argued Glover acted in self-defense when the victim attacked him.
“He was attacked and he did what he thought he needed to do to get his attacker away from him. The danger was real. The fear that Mr. Glover felt was real. He was unexpectedly assaulted by a man who threatened him in the past,” Donato argued during his closing statement to the jury.
Referring to Glover’s testimony, Donato argued the victim initiated the altercation by delivering the first shove and first punch. Defense lawyers argued prosecutors presented insufficient evidence to support the charges.
“Mr. Glover was lawfully defending himself that day. He never at any point wanted anyone to die. Mr. Glover did not possess a specific intent to kill,” Donato argued.
Yakubu suggested the jury’s job was made difficult because there were no video surveillance cameras on the parking lot that captured the altercation and shooting.
“A video provides certainty and here we don’t have that,” Yakubu argued during his opening statement.
The investigation began shortly after 8 a.m. June 18 when Lower Merion police responded to the parking lot on East City Avenue for a report of a shooting.
Arriving officers found the victim lying on Belmont Avenue, suffering from multiple gunshot wounds, outside his girlfriend’s vehicle. The victim was accompanied by his girlfriend and their 6-month-old daughter who was in her car seat inside the vehicle. The victim’s girlfriend identified Glover, the father of her 5-year-old son, as the shooter, according to the criminal complaint filed by Lower Merion Detective David Herbst.
Police found Glover standing outside his vehicle on the nearby parking lot of the former Lord & Taylor store and discovered the 5-year-old boy sitting in the front seat of Glover’s vehicle with a gunshot wound to his left foot. Glover cooperated and directed police to the back seat where they found a loaded Smith & Wesson 9mm semiautomatic handgun.
Glover had a license to carry a firearm and legally possessed it at the time of the incident.
Investigators found five 9mm fired cartridge casings on the parking lot.
Testimony revealed the shooting occurred during a prearranged custody exchange on the parking lot where Glover and his former girlfriend were meeting so he could take custody of his son for Father’s Day. The victim, who was dating Glover’s ex-girlfriend, was also in the woman’s vehicle.
The victim testified that as he was trying to get the 5-year-old boy out of a car seat for the custody exhange, Glover stood directly up against his back and he told Glover to back up numerous times. The victim testified he pushed Glover away and that during the exchange Glover motioned to his hip where he was carrying a firearm.
The victim claimed Glover punched him in the face and that he returned a punch. Glover, according to the victim’s testimony, then drew his firearm and fired several shots at the victim, striking him at least four times. The victim got back into the vehicle with his girlfriend and their infant daughter and the girlfriend drove toward Belmont Avenue to get away and called 911, according to testimony.
The victim was transported to a Philadelphia hospital where he underwent surgery for multiple gunshot wounds, including to his scrotum and intestines and two to his back. The victim’s testicles had to be removed, testimony revealed.
But when Glover took the stand in his own defense, he testified that the victim pushed him twice and punched him repeatedly, all unprovoked.
“He’s moving towards me and I’m trying to deflect the punches. I didn’t know if this guy had any weapon but I thought it was a possibility,” Glover testified, conceding however, that he never saw the victim with a weapon. “He’s right on me, punching me. I just wanted to get the guy away from me.”
Glover admitted to grabbing his gun and firing what he believed were three shots.
“Everything was moving so fast. I wasn’t trying to kill the guy,” Glover told the jury.
Glover said he then noticed his son had been injured and he went to aid his son and he called 911.
Testimony revealed that after police took him into custody, Glover cried and expressed concern about the well-being of his son and the victim.
“I couldn’t believe this happened,” Glover testified.
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