A man has been arrested and charged in connection with the murder of 25 year-old Milan Loncar, which took place on Wednesday night in the Brewerytown neighborhood of Philadelphia. According to CBS Philadelphia’s Joe Holden, police have yet to release the suspect’s name. Another man was also apprehended but it is unclear what charges he will be facing as of this time.
Loncar — who had recently graduated from Temple University — was shot and killed following an apparent robbery attempt last Wednesday. Surveillance video shows two men approaching Loncar, who was walking his dog. One man goes behind Loncar while the other pulls out a handgun. The two men can be seen going through Loncar’s pockets before shooting him once in the chest and running off.
Loncar then collapsed and attempted to call for help. When police arrived at the scene on the corner of 31st and Jefferson Streets, they found the victim semi-conscious and still holding on to his dog’s leash. Officers rushed him to Temple University Hospital where he was pronounced dead at 7:30PM.
Loncar was getting ready to move in with his girlfriend and had just started a new job, according to his mother, Amy Lounsberry, who spoke with NBC Philadelphia. “There’s no reason to it. No reason to it,” Lounsberry said. “He didn’t have any money on him. He didn’t fight back. He didn’t say anything wrong. It’s just too much. It’s just not right.”
A vigil was held by Loncar’s friends and family this past Friday in Brewerytown. “He was my soulmate and I don’t think I have a plan anymore without him,” said his girlfriend, Olivia Gorski.
Violent crime has spiked massively in the city of Philadelphia over the last year. Murder was up 40% from 2019 through 2020 and has coincided with an uptick in violent crime in generally low crime neighborhoods, such as Brewerytown.
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