David Quinn Cobb, a 51-year-old Black/African American man from Philadelphia, was killed on the morning of March 10, 2020, in the Fern Rock section of North Philadelphia. The shooting happened on the 1300 block of West Chew Avenue, near North Broad Street, shortly before or around 8:45 a.m. Police said Cobb was shot once in the head. When officers arrived, they found him lying on the sidewalk, and he was pronounced dead at the scene.
The morning unfolded quickly in a busy area close to
the Broad Street Line. Reports indicated that Cobb had been speaking with someone when the shooting occurred. After the gunfire, the suspected shooter appeared to flee toward the subway system, prompting police activity around SEPTA’s Broad Street Line and briefly slowing train service as officers searched the area. A person in handcuffs was later seen being taken by police from an underground emergency exit along North Broad Street.
Police identified the suspect as 31-year-old Phillip Turner. He was arrested shortly after the shooting on the 5700 block of Broad Street. Authorities accused Turner of fatally shooting Cobb and charged him with murder, robbery, weapons offenses, and related charges. He was held without bail after his arrest. Publicly available reports at the time did not provide a detailed motive, but the filing of robbery-related charges indicates investigators believed the killing was connected to an alleged robbery or attempted robbery.
Court schedule records later showed Phillip Turner still listed in connection with a Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas criminal case in April 2021, with a motion scheduled before Judge Anne Marie Coyle and Turner listed as being held at PICC. The available online sources reviewed did not show a confirmed trial outcome, conviction, acquittal, plea, or sentencing result, so the clearest documented case status is that Turner was arrested, charged, and held without bail in connection with Cobb’s killing.
