Police seek answers in 1998 murder of city employee

PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- A nearly 30-year-old cold case is being revisited by the Philadelphia Police Department.

A city employee was shot and killed in broad daylight.

Now, a reward is being offered for the arrest and conviction of a suspect.

"My good friend Joe Welsh was shot in a robbery attempt in our old neighborhood," says Jim Fitzgerald, a childhood friend of Welsh.

Welsh worked for the city's Licensing and Inspection Department.

On January 21, 1998, Welsh was walking to his car from the Fern Rock SEPTA Station in the middle of the afternoon when he encountered a would-be burglar at 7th Street and Medary Avenue in the city's Olney section.

"Did he follow Joe off train? Did he see him at fern rock station, walking to his car? That we don't know. Somehow he came together with Joe on that fateful afternoon," says Fitzgerald.

That question remains unanswered, 28 years later.

What police do know is that the suspect first fired a shot from a distance, missing Welsh.

At some point, the suspect shot Welsh in the head while trying to steal his wallet.

However, the suspect dropped the wallet, leaving the cash inside while running away.

"This was a completely unsuccessful robbery for the perp and ended up costing Joe his life 23 days later," Fitzgerald says.

Joe Welsh would cling to life for three weeks, before he succumbed to his injury.

A priest happened to see at least some of the crime from a nearby third floor window.

He described the suspect as being between 5'8 and 6' tall, and wearing a bright yellow winter coat.

Fitzgerald is hoping someone's memory is triggered from that fateful night.

"I'm asking the public, someone knows what happened, this guy told someone back then or since then."

Fitzgerald is adding $25,000 of his own money to the reward.

A total of $45,000 is being offered for information that leads to an arrest and conviction in this case.