PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A Philadelphia teenager has been sentenced to 12.5 to 25 years for the murder of a 69-year-old Chinese immigrant. The victim was attacked as he was taking his evening stroll in northeast Philadelphia two years ago.
Nineteen-year-old Marcquis Walker-Williams was convicted in August of third-degree murder in the death of retired tailor and fruit vendor Kwok Wai Ho.
Police said the defendant, then 17, grabbed Ho and put him in a choke hold. He then threw Ho to the ground, where he struck his head. He died a week later.
Walker-Williams said on Oct. 29 that he thinks about his actions every day and asked for forgiveness from the victim’s family. He has said he was trying to impress other youths in the Oxford Circle neighborhood.
Family members said Ho had come to the United States with no money and ran a lunch truck for many years before retiring. He later volunteered to drive the old and sick in Chinatown. ♦