Surveillance video giving Philadelphia police clearer picture of fatal teen stabbing

HUNTING PARK (WPVI) -- Philadelphia police are reviewing surveillance video that is giving them a clearer picture of what led up to the stabbing death of a teenage girl in Hunting Park.

Police say it happened at a Walgreens drugstore parking lot at Broad and Hunting Park around 3:45 a.m. Sunday.

17-year-old Anita Cotton had been to Penn's Landing with a group of friends for the July 4th fireworks.

Afterward, they headed to South Street where they ran into another group of girls from the neighborhood.

"We don't know what the original fight was about, we just know it carried over on South Street where there was some type of altercation. Uniform [officers] did a great job of coming and dispersing that," Philadelphia Police Captain James Clark said.

Clarks says the groups got onto subways on two different cars. Once they exited at the same time, a second altercation broke out.

Police say surveillance video shows Cotton and another girl had each other by the hair.

They say the other girl jabbed upward with a sharp object and caught Cotton in the neck.

She took two steps and then fell to the ground.

She died a short time later at the hospital.

Police say they have multiple pieces of surveillance video from where the girls first fought on South Street, from the drugstore where they fought again, and from SEPTA where they got on and off the subway.

Sources say the video shows Cotton was the aggressor, attacking the girl who eventually killed her.

Her aunt says she was not a fighter.

"My niece - she was a nice girl. She wasn't no fighter. She went out and a fight broke out and the end result was she got stabbed," Anita's aunt, Thelma Cotton-Blair said.

Anita Cotton leaves behind a 2-year-old daughter.

Police say as many as 20 teenagers were involved in the two fights and they will soon have the names of all of them.

"My advice would be for them to go to reliable adults they trust and come into homicide and tell their stories," Captain Clark said.

Anyone with information is urged to contact Philadelphia Police at 215-686-TIPS (8477), by texting a tip to PPDTIP (773847), or going online at www.phillypolice.com.

All tips will remain anonymous.