In the early morning hours of September 5, 2022, a beloved member of the Philadelphia community, 50-year-old Charles Gossett, was fatally shot. Gossett, a Black male known to many as 'Chali Khan,' was a producer, director, and a dedicated community advocate who worked on non-violence initiatives. The incident occurred around 2:06 a.m. outside the Bleu Brook restaurant and lounge in the Overbrook neighborhood, on the 1700 block of North 56th Street, where Gossett had been attending a friend's
birthday party. Philadelphia Police responded to the scene and found Gossett in the street with a gunshot wound. He was rushed to Penn Presbyterian Medical Center, where he succumbed to his injuries that morning.
The investigation into Gossett's death led police to identify 32-year-old Jahmir Harris as a suspect. Authorities believe Harris drove two shooters to and from the restaurant. Surveillance footage reportedly captured Harris at the scene, and it is alleged that he approached Gossett on foot in the parking lot just moments before returning to his vehicle and driving the attackers toward Gossett. The two other suspects involved in the shooting have not been publicly identified.
On October 21, 2022, Jahmir Harris turned himself in to the Philadelphia Police. He was subsequently charged with murder for his alleged role in the death of Charles Gossett. The arrest brought a renewed focus on Harris's past, as he had been released from prison in March 2021 after a 2012 murder conviction was overturned. In that earlier case, Harris had been sentenced to life in prison for the shooting death of Louis Porter. The District Attorney's Conviction Integrity Unit had sought the reversal of the conviction, citing that evidence had been improperly withheld from Harris's defense lawyers during the original trial.
