Homicide Charges for 5 in West Chester Shooting, DA Says

Five men have been arrested in connection with the shooting death of a West Chester man on Union Street late last month, the Chester County District Attorney’s Office announced Tuesday afternoon.

Tyrone Palmer, 21, Sergio Droz, 20, Calvin Thompson, 21, Anthony Brightwell, 24, all of Chester, and Nafis Janey, 20, of Brookhaven, were charged for their alleged roles in the homicide.

According to court documents, just before 11 p.m. Jan. 25, Jamal Scott, a 24-year-old resident of East Barnard Street, was shot in the chest by a 9mm handgun while in his car on Union Street. Scott was taken to Chester County Hospital, before being transferred to the trauma center of Paoli Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

In the subsequent investigation, West Chester Police recovered three spent 9mm shells from the area, and Chester County Detectives, while processing Scott’s vehicle, found three bullet holes in the driver side door and an additional bullet hole into the roof from the inside.

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Surveillance footage of the shooting showed two men police identified as Anthony Brightwell and Sergio Droz in the area. Cell phone records indicated that Brightwell and Droz had had phone contact with Scott in the hours before his death.

During an interview with police, Brightwell confessed to his role in the shooting, according to court documents. The Chester man said that he and his four co-defendants, driven by Nafis Janey, had come to West Chester that night with plans to commit a robbery for drugs and money. To that end, Brightwell said, they made contact with Scott through Thompson’s cellphone, and, with a handgun provided by Palmer, decided to rob the victim.

When the arranged meeting occurred, Brightwell told police he got into the car with Scott in a parking lot of 201 South Matlack Street. He said he and the victim then drove to Union Street, where they parked. Surveillance footage confirmed this. Brightwell, after an apparent struggle with the victim, then fired a shot inside the vehicle, through the roof rack, before Droz, using a 9mm also provided by Palmer, rushed alongside the vehicle and shot Scott from outside the driver’s side door of the car. Brightwell then grabbed a backpack containing marijuana from the car, and he and Droz fled on foot before meeting up with the co-defendants and leaving West Chester in Janey’s vehicle.

When the five returned to Chester, they split the marijuana.

The four co-defendants, interviewed separately, corroborated this account, according to court documents.

The five men were charged with homicide, robbery, conspiracy, and related charges. They were denied bail.