Police arrested a man accused of shooting a father at a Chester, Pennsylvania, supermarket in July.
Haneef Melton, 19, of Chester, was arrested and charged with the murder of 27-year-old Dontae Dickerson.
On July 2, 2024, at approximately 11:15 a.m., police responded to a report of a shooting at the Lucky 7 convenience store located at 1100 Morton Avenue in Chester City. When they arrived, they found a man, later identified as Dickerson, on the floor inside the store suffering from a gunshot wound to the head.
Dickerson was later pronounced dead and his death was ruled a homicide.
Investigators recovered surveillance footage from the store. The video showed a man entering the store and paying for an item around 11:05 a.m. The video then shows the man walking up behind Dickerson as he waited in line, pulling out a gun and shooting him in the back of the head, police said.
According to investigators, the shooter then left the store and fled south on Elsinore Place.
Investigators later identified the shooter as Melton. He was arrested on Wednesday, August 28, and charged with manslaughter, first- and third-degree murder, unlawful possession of a firearm and possession of a firearm.
Melton's bail was denied and he is being held in the Delaware County Jail. His preliminary hearing is scheduled for October 7, 2024, according to court documents.
Online court records do not list an attorney representing Melton. While Melton is in custody, investigators have not released a possible motive for the shooting.
Dickerson was the father of a 7-year-old girl. Dickerson's mother, Mickette Cephas, told NBC10 he was on a routine trip to the store at the time of his death.
“I was just in the store, early in the morning, wearing flip-flops and shorts to buy something, and you took my son's life. I don't know what to think or feel,” Cephas told NBC10 in July. “He doesn't stand on streets. He doesn't stand for that kind of thing.”
Cephas said her son was known as a joker and a dancer.
“I cry, I scream, I have my moments, but I don't get a chance to sit down and mourn him,” she said. “I have to move on.”
