Murders of two Reading teens, 11 days apart, startles police chief

(Reading) — Two recent murders in this midstate city are getting special attention.

Reading Police Chief William Heim is startled by the ages of the victims; 17-year-old Keith Witner and 18-year-old Jaleel each were shot and killed about a week-and-a-half apart.

He says he doesn’t think the murders are related, but is disturbed the victims were just teenagers…

“It’s just alarming. Here’s young people that have their whole lives ahead of them. There are plenty of opportunities and role models in the community. They may not see it,” he says.

“I don’t think it’s indicative at this point of anything more than just happenstance. It’s happened before when we have a series of these type of incidents and then we don’t have anything for a while.”

Heim says he believes both teens were known to police, and is confident they were presented with options to find help.

Reading’s also had more murders this year than in all of 2014.

Heim says he’s sending officers into zones of the city to address the issue, but doesn’t think a gang retaliation cycle is at play this year.

On top of the 10 murders in the city counted by the Reading police, a State Police officer also shot and killed a suspect in February.