In the heart of a cold Philadelphia winter, the new year had barely begun when tragedy struck. Karon Bailey, a 24-year-old Black / African American man, found his life cut short on the evening of Sunday, January 5, 2014. He and a close friend, Basir Amaker, also 24, were seated in a car on Media Street in West Philadelphia when an unknown assailant, or assailants, unleashed a hail of gunfire upon them.
The violence that erupted that night was sudden and brutal.
Karon was struck multiple times in his head and body. He and Basir were rushed to Lankenau Medical Center, but their injuries were too severe. Both were pronounced dead that evening. A third young man in the car with them, who was 22 at the time, was also shot but survived his injuries. In the immediate aftermath, the Philadelphia police were left with a grim scene and few answers. They had no motive for the shooting and no suspects in custody.
The story of that fateful night is made even more poignant by the events that preceded it. Karon and Basir had spent part of their day grieving the loss of another friend, Le'Quan Green, who had been shot and killed just the night before. The two friends were among nearly 200 people who had gathered for a memorial for Green. It was after this gathering, as they sat in their car, that they became victims themselves. The shock of this double homicide rippled through their community, compounding the sorrow of the previous day's loss.
In the weeks and months that followed, the investigation into the murders of Karon Bailey and Basir Amaker struggled to gain traction. By March 2014, authorities reported that no witnesses had come forward, despite the belief that many people were in the vicinity at the time of the shooting. Investigators had no description of the shooter or shooters and were uncertain of how they fled the scene. Ballistics evidence indicated that at least two different guns were used in the attack. With no clear motive and only a few street names as potential leads, the case grew cold. A substantial reward of $40,000 was offered for any information that could lead to an arrest and conviction, a desperate plea for someone to break the silence. Despite the efforts of law enforcement and the lingering pain of their families, the case of who killed Karon Bailey and Basir Amaker remains unsolved, a lingering question in the city's history of violence.
