All Eyes Are Out for Men Beating Elderly Philadelphia Merchants

The cuts and bruises from a severe beating had healed enough for him to shave, so Issam T. Masri returned to his Arabic bookstore and opened for business--but he kept the door locked.

He never used to lock the door during store hours in the cobblestone-paved tourist area of Old City, three blocks from Independence Hall.

That changed after the beating by a man police believe is responsible for attacking nine other merchants in Old City and South Philadelphia in the last month.

“I am stubborn,” said Masri, 60, unlatching the door for a visitor and returning to the desk where he smoked a cigarette and sipped Lebanese coffee. “We keep the door locked. Definitely it is bad for business, but safety is important.”

Police have circulated a sketch of the attacker investigators say appears as intent on beating as robbing his victims, mostly older merchants alone in their stores. The attacks were within about two miles of one another.

The assaults seem to have been due to “just viciousness,” Capt. Thomas Quinn said.

On Friday, police charged a second suspect in a Christmas Eve coffee shop robbery and beating. The two men are also being investigated as possible suspects in the nine other cases, Quinn said.

In half of the 10 incidents, a larger man beat the victims while a smaller one served as an accomplice in the robberies, Quinn said.

A $6,000 reward posted last week by the Citizens Crime Commission was increased Tuesday to $11,000 by a local philanthropist.

Five blocks north of Masri’s bookstore, among the taverns and restaurants of Penn’s Landing along the Delaware River, Jeanne’s Boutique remained closed this week. The 72-year-old owner, Jeanne Bruno, was among the most severely beaten of the victims. She was released Sunday after four days in the hospital.

“Thoughts and Prayers for Jeanne,” reads a sign weighted down with two bricks on her store’s doorstep. At the Mexican Post restaurant next door, maintenance man David Davidson, carrying equipment to his truck, locked the door on each trip inside.

“People are taking extra precautions. You saw me locking the door. We don’t usually do that,” Davidson said.

Mexican Post owner Tony George said Bruno is “up and around a little, but not much.”

He said he and other restaurant owners on the block are organizing a “Freedom from Fear Festival” and will donate part of the proceeds for Bruno’s medical expenses.

“We do care. We are not going to turn our heads. We want our customers who come in to feel safe,” George said.

Police said Bruno, the most recent victim, was alone in her store when a man entered and beat her with his fists. As he fled, she called 911 from a back room.

“How much money could she have in that store?” said Davidson, who was in a restaurant three doors down during the attack.

“This is a sick individual, targeting elderly men and women and attacking them,” George said. “He just wanted to beat them up.”

Angela Trusko, 56, was hospitalized for six days after she was beaten Dec. 31 while working alone at TV’s Market in South Philadelphia, south of Old City.

“He got less than $120,” said Ed Vollbrecht, Trusko’s boyfriend, who also works at the store. “He did a real number on her.”

Trusko is recovering from multiple fractures and has not yet returned to work.

“He’s standing there admiring his work after he’s done,” Vollbrecht said. “I would like to see them catch him before he does this again, because the next time he may kill somebody.”

Masri was assaulted Jan. 6 by a man who came in his store asking for a book. Before he could look up the price, Masri said, the man yanked him from behind his desk and started beating him. Masri said he gave the man some money, less than $400, but the man kept punching him.

“If he had been around here he would know selling books doesn’t make that much money,” Masri said. “Or he’s a psycho.”

Masri said he came to the relative peace of the United States 10 years ago from Tripoli, Lebanon. “We lived through 16 years of war there. We lived through the Israeli invasion, the shelling and the rocket attacks,” he said.

Masri, who opened his store specializing in Arabic history and literature eight years ago, said the attack did not change his opinion of the United States.

“The people of the community were very nice,” he said. “Some people sent flowers, some people came in and hugged me, some people sent chocolate, some people sent cards, some people cried.”