Official: Slaying in front of toddler was ‘a touch of evil’

PHILADELPHIA – A police official is calling the shooting death of a Philadelphia community activist during an attempted carjacking while his 2-year-old daughter sat in the back seat “one of the most horrific things” he’s seen in 24 years in the department.

Homicide Capt. Jack Ryan said Monday there was no explanation for the slaying of 38-year-old Gerard Grandzol other than “a touch of evil.”

Police say two men approached Grandzol outside his home Thursday night, took his wallet and demanded his car keys, and one of them shot him twice in the head.

Twenty-one-year-old Maurice Roberts and his 16-year-old brother have been arrested. No attorney information is available for either suspect.

Ryan said the handgun hasn’t been recovered and must have been obtained illegally.