by Alex Lloyd Gross
April 14,2022
On April 8,2022 Upper Merion police responded to the Exxon station on Gulph Road for reported gunshots. When they arrived,they found Tamara Cornelius had been shot multiple times. She was rushed to Pali Hospital where she was pronounced dead. The gunman was long lone. 
A joint homicide investigation by Upper Merion Township Police and the Montgomery County Detective Bureau found that the defendant and victim had a prior relationship and that the two had talked at 9:11 p.m. outside of The Cheesecake Factory at the King of Prussia Mall. The investigation revealed the victim left the restaurant at 10:15 p.m., walked to the mall parking garage, then drove to the Exxon Station. The defendant followed her. While Cornelius was pumping gas, then opened fired hitting her multiple times, even as she was trying to run away.
The defendant, Rafiq Thompson, of N 47th Street in Philadelphia turned himself in at the Upper Merion Twp. police Station yesterday afternoon, April 13, 2022. He is charged with first degree murder, person not to posses a firearm, and related charges. He will be held without bail until his trial.