It has been almost nineteen years since The “Lex Street Massacre,” Philadelphia’s largest mass murder.  This mass murder occurred on December 28, 2000 in a known, abandoned drug house at 816 N. Lex Street in West Philadelphia.  Ten victims were shot, seven of which died. The victims ranged from ages 15 to 54. On January 1, 2001, Jermel Lewis, Quiante Perrin, Hezekiah Thomas, and Sacon Youk, were arrested and charged in connection with the murders.  After 18 months in jail, the charges against the four men were dropped as a result of insufficient evidence. The men sued, earning a 1.9 million dollar settlement.

In 2002, approximately two years after the massacre, a second trial occurred. Brothers Dawud and Khalid Faruqi were convicted in the murders. Prosecution offered a plea deal to the brothers, sentencing them to consecutive life terms in prison instead of the death penalty. Two other men, Shihean Black and Bruce Veney, also pleaded guilty in the murders. 

“The system failed me twice,” Veronica Conyers said in 2011. She is the mother of Calvin “CJ” Helton, an 19 year-old bystander who was a victim of the execution-style murders. “The first time they failed me was when I went to court every day for 18 months when they had the wrong guys charged with the crime.

Even many years after the murders, Conyers, struggled with the loss of her son, going to “hell and back” she recites.

“I lost everything,” Conyers said in an interview in 2010. “I had a mental breakdown that took me four years to come out of. I’ve just restarted to live my life 10 years later. I’ve been from shelter to shelter to homelessness and on drugs.”

Conyers says she is still destroyed by the case. She wants people to understand that the massacre was not drug-related as many believe. Though the house was known for drug activity, a testimony in the second trial revealed that the murders were a result of a car trade gone wrong. One of the murder victims, George Porter, traded cars with Shihean Black, who pleaded guilty in connection with the murders. When the car’s clutch blew, Porter demanded his car back from Black. When Black refused, Porter stole his car back. This bad car deal led to the massacre. 

The 800 block of Lex Street underwent a multi-million dollar revitalization in 2010, ten years after the massacre. The block in a now a block of modern, rental row homes for low-income families. Though 816. N Lex Street has been rebuilt and improved, the notorious “Lex Street Massacre” will never be forgotten.