December 18, 2025
Thom Carroll/For PhillyVoice
Kimbrady Carriker, 43, pleaded guilty to killing five people and wounding five others during a mass shooting in Kingsessing in July 2023. He was sentenced to 37 1/2 to 75 years in prison. The file photo above shows the Juanita Kidd Stout Center for Criminal Justice.
The man who fatally shot five people and injured five others in Kingsessing over two-days in July 2023 was sentenced Wednesday to 37 1/2 to 75 years in prison. The sentence is part of a plea deal with prosecutors.
Kimbrady Carriker, 43, pleaded guilty to five counts of third-degree murder along with five counts of attempted homicide and related charges. The Philadelphia District Attorney's Office offered the deal concerned arguments by Carriker's attorney about the defendant's mental health would sway a jury, 6ABC reported.
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"Realistically, the 75 years and the amount of time you would expect him to actually serve would be well beyond any normal life expectancy," Robert Wainwright, supervisor of the D.A.'s Homicide and Non-Fatal Shootings Unit, told 6ABC.
Carriker's attorneys were prepared to make the case that the defendant should be sentenced to a secure psychiatric facility rather than prison. Gregg Blender, assistant defender with the Defender Association of Philadelphia, told the Inquirer that Carriker suffers from "severe delusions and religious preoccupations" and that he "had a fixed illusion that he was working for the National Security Agency."
On July 3, 2023, Carriker used an AR-15-style rifle to shoot people at random near 56th Street and Chester Avenue, investigators said. He was wearing a ski mask and bulletproof vest as he fatally shot Dajuan Brown, 15, Lashyd Merrit, 20, Dymir Stanton, 29, and Ralph Moralis, 59. He wounded five others, including a 2-year-old and 13-year-old.
Nearly 48 hours earlier, Carriker had fatally shot Joseph Wamah Jr., 31, on 56th Street, but his body was not found until after the July 3 shooting. Police said that they had been notified of the earlier shooting at the time, but that they were dispatched to the wrong address.
Carriker was arrested on the 1600 block of South Frazier Street. Investigators said he had displayed erratic behavior on social media before the shooting, posting an advertisement for tactical weapons and echoing messages about "loss of freedoms." Carriker allegedly confessed to the shootings, telling police that he was trying to clean up the neighborhood.
In the weeks after the shooting, Carriker was found unfit to stand trial by a court-appointed psychiatrist. He was required to complete 60 days of inpatient mental health treatment before he could stand trial.
NOTE: The headlines and other portions of this article were edited for clarity after this article was published.
