Thursday, January 19, 2012

Gbolahan Olabode, 45, Lansdowne pharmacy owner and author

Gbolahan Olabode was gunned down outside his Owen Avenue Home the evening of Jan. 4.
Investigators believe multiple gunmen were involved in the shooting, though they had no information regarding motive.
According to authorities, Olabode arrived home and parked his car behind his apartment about 8:10 p.m., when several men ambushed him. He was shot multiple times.
Olabode owned Dava Pharmacy in Lansdowne, as well as other businesses outside Lansdowne. In 2001, he co-authored his autobiography, "Born Suspect: The Life and Trials of Gbolahan Olabode." The work largely focused on Olabode's arrest and 43-day imprisonment in Philadelphia. He was a Temple University student in 1992 when police arrested him at a laundromat for a burglary he did not commit and of which he was later acquitted. Olabode later sued the Philadelphia Police Department and eventually won a $100,000 settlement. 
His death is the second homicide for the county and the first for Lansdowne in 2012.
In 2011, two individuals died at the hands of another in Lansdowne.

Omar Draughn, 19

Omar Draughn, 19, died Jan. 3 after being shot in the head on Chester's Eastside.
Draughn's death marks the first homicide in Delaware County in 2012.
Police found Draughn's body on the ground near the intersection of East Seventh and Potter streets around 12:23 a.m. He had been shot in the head, according to Police Capt. Anita Amaro.
Police have not released any information about a suspect or motive.
Chester, the county's only city, saw 23 people die at the hand of another in 2011.