by Alex Lloyd Gross
Deandrade Jeferson 20, of Philadelphia was convicted by a jury yesterday for an attempted robbery of a motor vehicle. This incident happened on February 22, 2022. It was on that date, authorities said, that a teenage girl was double parked on a Northeast Philadelphia Street, when Jeferson approached the vehicle and brandished a handgun.
The girl was getting home from a teenage dance at a local church when Jeferson approached. He fire on shot at the car, which leaving one bullet hole in the bottom of the car door. The victim and passengers fled the scene in her car. Jeferson fled along with two unidentified codefendants, authorities said.
Jeferson was arrested in June 2022. Investigators believe that Jeferson and others were the drivers behind a number of other carjacking incidents and that they were targeting people of Brazilian descent due to the possibility that victims may be undocumented.
Assistant District Attorney Kenzie Johnson utilized testimony from the survivor as well as forensic evidence, including a sizable handprint left on the driver’s side window, to secure a guilty verdict. The jury deliberated for only a couple of hours before rendering their verdict. Jeferson is scheduled for sentencing on August 9, 2024, before the Hon. Monica Gibbs.