Driver faces charges for killing four

PHILADELPHIA, June 11 (UPI) -- The driver of a car that killed three children and a woman will be charged with four counts of murder, Philadelphia officials said Thursday.

He was identified as Donta Cradock, 18, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported. Ivan Rodriguez, 20, who allegedly stole a motorcycle with Cradock just before the crash faces the same charges, the District Attorney's Office said.

Police said the young men stole a motorcycle at gunpoint Wednesday evening, and Rodriguez then drove off on it, while Cradock took off by car. Cradock allegedly sped off after a police officer approached him at an intersection, jumping a curb a short distance away and driving into people on the sidewalk.

The dead were identified as Latoya Smith, 22, her daughter, Remedy, who would have celebrated her first birthday Friday, Remedy's cousin, Alicia Griffin, 6, and Gina Marie Rosario, 7.

About 200 people, including relatives of the victims, held a vigil Thursday night at the scene of the crash.

Verna Brown tried to comfort her grandson, Devon Brown Griffin, 4, a playmate and relative of the victims.

"She's left the doctor's. She gone to heaven," she told him.

Ted Canada, Latoya Smith's stepfather, pointed to the broken steps of two rowhouses where the Pontiac driven by Cradock hit.

"If you look at those steps and that tree, they never had a chance," he said, weeping.