"These two women were murdered brutally inside of a vehicle and it appears that they clearly knew their killer," said Chief Inspector Keith Sadler of the Philadelphia Police Department.
Chante Wright was set to testify in the murder trial of Hakeem Bey, accused of gunning down Moses Williams in 2000. After the other witness in the case, Omar Morris, was gunned down, Chante was placed in the federal witness protection program, relocated to Jacksonville, Florida, her last named changed to Jackson.
She was told to stay away from Philadelphia for her protection, but she took a chance and came back to see her gravely ill grandmother and was murdered less than 7 hours later.
The question is, was Laquille Bryant acting alone or on behalf of someone who ordered the hit?
What we do know is Hakeem Bey is an alleged member of a notorious drug gang involved in turf wars over gangster rappers. Police say Bey's gang was aligned with rapper Beanie Sigel. Chante was friends with a rival rapper. She was out with him and friends celebrating a record deal when her friend, Moses Williams, was gunned down allegedly by Bey.
Laquille Bryant, who has a long criminal history of drugs and weapons offenses, confessed to the Chante Wright and Octavia Green murders after police working around the clock identified a finger print in the car as his.
Chief Inspector Sadler says, "Our hopes are that this event is going to lead to a chain of events and has us clearing up a lot of unsolved homicides."
Police have reason to believe others may be involved in the plot to kill Chante Wright. If the alleged killer Laquille Bryant is offering any clues as to those others, police aren't saying.
Suffice to say the investigation is on going.
