Krasner stumps for multi-million dollar forensics lab to help thwart gun crimes

Krasner stumps for multi-million dollar crime lab to curtail thwart gun crimes

Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner said the city needs a new multi-million dollar forensics crime lab to help thwart gun crimes in Philadelphia. This comes as President Biden offered billions in new spending for state and local governments to hire more officers.

PHILADELPHIA - Philadelphia's district attorney is calling for a multi-million dollar forensics lab after President Joe Biden offered billions to pay for state and local governments to hire more police.

District Attorney Larry Krasner made his pitch for a beefed up forensics lab Monday while reporting the details of a 26-year-old convicted of a gun-felony despite a key piece of forensics equipment being broken.

Krasner said Bashir Moore was arrested on New Year’s Eve in 2019 for firing his weapon into the air. Police never found Moore’s gun, but convicted him by using gun residue even when a key piece of equipment needed in the investigation was broken at the time.

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"When your whole case hinges on gun shot residue, the machine shouldn’t be broken which is what it was when the incident happened," Krasner told reporters.

Krasner said his office is dedicated to holding those charged with gun crime accountable. He said Moore is someone who investigators believe is associated with "one or more of the groups that are driving gun violence in Philadelphia."

According to the latest data provided by the Philadelphia Police Department, there have been 120 homicides in the city so far in 2022.

Meanwhile, President Biden proposed some $30-billion in his new budget to help state and local governments hire more police.

"It allows the ATF and the FBI to hire the agents to help fight gun crime and other violent crime in our communities." Biden said.

Biden also wants to direct more dollars to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to hire new agents to track the flow of illegal weapons.