2y ago

Philadelphia journalist who advocated for homeless and LGBTQ+ communities shot and killed at home

A journalist and advocate who rose from homelessness and addiction to serve as a spokesperson for Philadelphia’s most vulnerable was shot and killed at his home early Monday, police said.

Josh Kruger, 39, was shot seven times at about 1:30 a.m. and collapsed in the street after seeking help, police said. He was pronounced dead at a hospital a short time later. Police believe the door to his Point Breeze home was unlocked or the shooter knew how to get in, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported. No arrests have been made and no weapons have been recovered, they said.

Authorities haven’t spoken publicly about the circumstances surrounding the killing.

289 comments

I'm always a bit suspicious when a Journalist is killed like this. Who were those who may have been threatened by what he published?
- The people in these comments talking like this is "just another day in a US city" have no fucking idea what they're talking about. This is not the kind of violence that randomly happens. This person was clearly targeted.
  They also fail to grasp the concept of "per capita" crime/murder statistics.
  
  no, targeting journalists to suppress left wing elements is as american as apple pie and as common as corn syrup
  
  Per capita? Really? Try per capita gun murders around the world and see what countries the US keeps company with. I mean, your argument is basically because there are lots of people, being shot is NBD because the odds are low because there are lots of people?
  And yeah, again, compared to other places this is the kind of violence that happens in the US.
  However, this was a targeted shooting. A deliberate murder. That does tend to be a more rare occurrence, but it’s dishonest to break it out and treat it separately from the overall use of crime related gun use in the US.
- Bigots a.k.a conservatives
  
  Wouldn't surprise me one bit. There's an epidemic of violence going through the conservative movement right now. They've been growing more and more violent. See Jan 6. and all the terrorist attacks/shootings coming from their side lately.
  
  I love the irony of the bigotry in your comment
- https://www.inquirer.com/crime/josh-kruger-killed-point-breeze-shooting-philadelphia-journalist-20231002.html
  “Either the door was open, or the offender knew how to get the door open,” he said. “We just don’t know yet.”
  Detectives believe Kruger’s death may have been the result of a domestic dispute or may have been drug-related, according to three law enforcement sources with knowledge of the case. The sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss an ongoing investigation, said police investigators recovered troubling text messages between Kruger and a former partner. Investigators also recovered methamphetamine inside Kruger’s bedroom, the sources said.
  In recent months, he’d written on social media about a variety of alarming incidents at his home.
  In April, he posted that an ex-partner had broken into his home. “The door was locked, so he had somehow obtained a copy of my keys,” he wrote. He had allowed the man, whom he’d known for years “before his troubles,” to stay at his house briefly after being released from jail. He said he was able to deescalate the situation and the man eventually left, and he changed his locks.
  In August, someone threw a rock through his home window, he said. Then, about two weeks ago, he wrote on Facebook that someone came to his house searching for their boyfriend — “a man I’ve never met once in my entire life.” The person called themselves “Lady Diabla, the She-Devil of the Streets” and threatened him, he wrote.
- Or who would have been threatened by what would have been published, should he still be alive?
  
  This is why journalists should invest in a dead man's switch that will automatically publish stuff I the journalists cannot check in
  One last fuck you from the grave
- Same here.
  I have an uncle who was killed due to an article he was doing research for. Sadly, he ended up in a coma and then someone came back to finish the job. It had a large impact on my mother and her siblings, though it was a few years before I was born. I had always wondered how much of it was an exaggeration until a couple years ago when we found an article saying basically the same things the aunts and uncles always had.
  
  Is it because they interviewed the aunts and uncles as their primary source?
No doubt a fascist done this.
- Cops definitely murdered this man.
  
  That's my vote as well.
- It would seem so.
- Police have said the motive behind the killing remains unclear, but that the pair were in a relationship.
  Davis’ mother and older brother said that relationship began years ago, when Davis was just 15, and involved sex, drugs, and abuse. They told The Inquirer in recent interviews that Davis said Kruger was threatening to post sexually explicit videos of him online before, police say, Davis shot him.
  Not a cop it seems.
Some of those who work forces,
Are the same who burn crosses.
- Is there any info linking police to the shooting?
  
  Hello again old friend
  Not to my knowledge but it was still an idea worth posing given the polices history against the homeless population nation wide and would be an easy answer as to why there’s not been any breaks in the case.
  Although I didn’t pose what I said as fact, I can’t help what people will assume of groups they’re already familiar with.
- We don't know the cops did this.
  No shortage of right-wing reactionaries, who aren't cops, shooting people.
  that said, the Philly PD don't have the best reputation, e.g. blatantly trying to frame Mumia, etc.
- Work forces??
  
  Influential people. It's a Rage Against the Machine quote if you need the context.
  
  Police forces. Task forces.. Etc.
Very sad to see this. Unfortunate what happened to Josh.
But who's committing these crimes, and why so much senseless violence?
- Probably a “good Christian”, since the fundamentalist are militantly (in a literal sense) against any sort of tolerance, acknowledgement, or compassion being expressed towards people who don’t completely conform to their heteronormative worldview.
  
  I stole this from another poster, but it does indicate that it was probably his ex boyfriend, or drug related, and not a "good Christian" as you imply.
  Here's some excerpts from the local paper.
  Detectives believe Kruger’s death may have been the result of a domestic dispute or may have been drug-related, according to three law enforcement sources with knowledge of the case. The sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss an ongoing investigation, said police investigators recovered troubling text messages between Kruger and a former partner. Investigators also recovered methamphetamine inside Kruger’s bedroom, the sources said.
  In recent months, he’d written on social media about a variety of alarming incidents at his home.
  In April, he posted that an ex-partner had broken into his home. “The door was locked, so he had somehow obtained a copy of my keys,” he wrote. He had allowed the man, whom he’d known for years “before his troubles,” to stay at his house briefly after being released from jail. He said he was able to deescalate the situation and the man eventually left, and he changed his locks.
  In August, someone threw a rock through his home window, he said. Then, about two weeks ago, he wrote on Facebook that someone came to his house searching for their boyfriend — “a man I’ve never met once in my entire life.” The person called themselves “Lady Diabla, the She-Devil of the Streets” and threatened him, he wrote.
  https://www.inquirer.com/crime/josh-kruger-killed-point-breeze-shooting-philadelphia-journalist-20231002.html
  
  Excuse me, but your bigotry is hanging out. Would you mind zipping up?
- Major cities have always been cesspools of violent crime.
- It's Philly, this is nothing new (Edit: since people love twisting words, I meant violence in general not the specific targeting of an activist journalist for Christ sake). I grew up in South Jersey (half way in between Philly and Atlantic City, NJ) and there's always a headline on the nightly news about "X people were killed in a shootout today in West/South/North Philly today", most people don't see it though since Philly is overshadowed by NYC (anyone from Central Jersey and North gets NYC news). Everything but Center City has always been a shit hole for the most part.
  Edit: I live in NYC for 5 years, it of course has shitty areas all over too. Everyone is trying to act like major cities are perfect, crime free areas. Did people forget that the Italian and Irish mobs ran NYC and Philly for decades?!
  
  Having a home invader break into your house and gun you down is not a common occurrence, even in philly. It was a targeted attack.
  
  This wasn't someone gunned down in a shootout. This was a homeless and LGBT rights activist who was brutally murdered in his home.
  Nothing about that is ordinary.
  
  If you were halfway between Philly and Atlantic City, you were too far away from Philly to pretend to be an expert. But keep using that weak anecdotal "evidence" to continue your ignorant views on urban areas.
  Saying "Everything but Center City has always been a shit hole" gives you away. You have no fucking clue. Probably been at least a decade since you've driven within 30 miles of the city.
  
  I mean, shootings in bad parts of Philly and Camden aren't new, but they're gang-related. This sort of crime detailed in the article is not common, even in Philly. This guy was targeted. Someone he likely knew was in his home, because no one had to break in (I highly doubt he didn't lock his door), and 7 shots is overkill. Journalists aren't being targeted like this on the regular.
  Source: grew up 20 minutes outside of Philly in South Jersey
These comments are out of control. To be fair though, this AP article is garbage.
The likelihood of this having anything to do with the victim being a queer journalist in Philadelphia is practically zero. Here's some excerpts from the local paper.
Detectives believe Kruger’s death may have been the result of a domestic dispute or may have been drug-related, according to three law enforcement sources with knowledge of the case. The sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss an ongoing investigation, said police investigators recovered troubling text messages between Kruger and a former partner. Investigators also recovered methamphetamine inside Kruger’s bedroom, the sources said.
In recent months, he’d written on social media about a variety of alarming incidents at his home.
In April, he posted that an ex-partner had broken into his home. “The door was locked, so he had somehow obtained a copy of my keys,” he wrote. He had allowed the man, whom he’d known for years “before his troubles,” to stay at his house briefly after being released from jail. He said he was able to deescalate the situation and the man eventually left, and he changed his locks.
In August, someone threw a rock through his home window, he said. Then, about two weeks ago, he wrote on Facebook that someone came to his house searching for their boyfriend — “a man I’ve never met once in my entire life.” The person called themselves “Lady Diabla, the She-Devil of the Streets” and threatened him, he wrote.
https://www.inquirer.com/crime/josh-kruger-killed-point-breeze-shooting-philadelphia-journalist-20231002.html
- The conspiracy theories are strong in this thread. Nobody wants to believe that random acts of violence can happen. There always has to be some deeper conspiracy to try and make sense of it, and to feel like there is some semblance of control in our lives.
  
  Bear in mind a lot of the commenters come from a civilised society, where a journalist getting shot is massive fucking news and implies something about his profession getting him killed
  People just don't get shot in modern countries
  
  Well, nothing that was written above makes it seem like this was random. This seems to have been very deliberate, but for reasons unrelated to their outreach work.
  
  I think it's part of their idea that everything wrong in the world comes from America, so if they topple the American capitalist system everything will be fixed.
  Random acts of violence don't fit this narrative, the fact that there will always be psychopaths by sheer fact of the genetic lottery doesn't fit this narrative, and the downfall of left leaning public figures through no fault of their own or that of some secret cabal of the US government doesn't fit this narrative.
  The fact that bad shit will still need to be fixed and/or corrected for in a "post revolution" world just breaks their brains.
  It's Turner Diaries logic, "no see, once we get rid of them the world will be perfect!"
  
  even the the most generous and trusting reading of this would suggest that the US just selling unhinged people guns is possibly something that could be chalked up the cause of this murder. Permissive gun policies in this country and multiple court rulings that police don't have to take protective measures seriously have degraded people's ability to have control over their lives.
  Even if there was no intent here, this "random act of violence" is the result of generations of failed policies.
- Investigators also recovered methamphetamine inside Kruger’s bedroom, the sources said.
  "Party and Play" (PnP) with meth is a thing and it's as toxic and fucked up as you'd imagine.
  If that was what was going on ... I can't say I'm remotely surprised what happened did.
  
  Why speculate? When I see threads like this, that is my one and only thought. It adds no value, muddies the water, and doesn't rely on evidence.
  Why speculate? I'm too autistic for this thread. I don't speculate. I wait for evidence.
On his website, he described himself as a “militant bicyclist” and “a proponent of the singular they, the Oxford comma, and pre-Elon Twitter.“
[Emphasis mine] This is such an important issue to me. Contracts have been ruled upon because of the appearance or lack of the Oxford comma (a union got fucked because it wasn't there). All his other traits are also admirable, but this is the unimportant-important thing that jumped out at me.
honestly just america being america
- Found the Putiny
  
  that was extremely weak
- Yeah whatever you do, don't improve or advocate for change, that would be awful.
  
  America should be shit on at all times, no exceptions.
  
  where health care???!!!
We can't let these fascists overtake society.
- We should be more focused on people not making rash assumptions or accusations prior to all the facts of an event being known.
  This has absolutely nothing to do with fascists. I can't even imagine how you came to that conclusion. It's being reported as likely being a domestic dispute.
- Man, get over yourself, you are just spitting nonsense here.
- If by the fascists you're referring to the criminals who murdered him, it's too late. The victim was out there every day fighting to keep these criminals on the streets. We really do need to get tougher on crime, all over the West.
- They will be caught.
  
  "They" are the ones in charge of catching each other, so not likely. Or they'll find some black homeless person to take the blame and make it look like a robbery rather than a hate crime.
when i first read this, i thought it was the journalist advocating for homless and lgbtq+ to be shot and killed
- Same, it took me a second
Two likely senarios:
It's someone he knows in the LGBT community who has beef with him over something not related to his activism. Maybe he pissed off someone he was trying to help. Maybe he was caught in a weird romantic triangle. Maybe he just befriended someone who is psycho.
Or, it's someone anti-LGBT who did it due to his activism or related to that.
Could be either at this point.
- In what world would scenario 1 even be considered an option. Be real.
  
  It's an option because a majority of victims know their killers personally. Now, that may also mean it's scenario 2 or a family member or someone they had a bad business deal with or someone random. And I do take issue with the assumption that those two scenarios are the most likely. But it's not out of the question.
  
  The real world. Are you serious?
  Have you ever read a news story or just headlines on social media?
  
  ...do you pay attention to the news at all? The real world is soaked in domestic violence over ideological, especially in the west.
  
  That's exactly what I was thinking.
  While I'd like to believe there's some grand conspiracy to silence this guy, I actually think it's more likely this was done by someone he knew or was working with.
  I could easily see some angry, deranged homeless person killing a journalist just because he "didn't like him."
  
  Everyone knows when a journalist dies, we should look first at the unhoused population.
- The article says there were no signs of breaking in, so it is strongly implied that it was someone he was close to.
  
  Yup, which is why I'm inclined towards #1. Newer articles today state people close to him think it's either domestic or drug related, which again, points more to scenario one.
- There's always a bigger motivator in ideological differences.
  
  Vast majority of violence is interpersonal and someone who was known prior to the violence.
  
  That's just not true at all. Ideological killings in the west are far less than domestic related ones.
- Umm no it doesn't...
- Right? Makes it sound like a targeted attack specifically because of those issues.
  
  You two are saying different things. The first poster just can't read. Your point is more valid - we don't know yet whether this attack was motivated by his activism. Though not unimaginable in the current circumstance.
Crime is pretty bad in Philadelphia, certainly not a place I would want to live. Though it does beat out St. Louis and Baltimore 3x over in murder rates.
- He was shot 7 times. I'd bet this was personal, or that he was specifically targeted.
  To be clear, I know nothing other than what I just read in the article, but someone had to really want him dead to shoot him seven times, and no one else i.e. not a mass shooting.
  
  When investigating a crime, and there is overkill like this, it usually points to a personal motive.
  
  Yep, this doesn't look like a robbery.
  
  It takes a weekend to learn how to use lock picks to open a door in seconds. I know the police carefully frame it as "or knew how to gain entry", but it's not as high a bar as they make it sound.
- Rural crime is pretty bad too. I’ve met literally like one person who was randomly attacked on the streets in Philly. The vast majority of crime is people killing people they know.
  
  Philadelphia has over 3x the homicide rate as the country as a whole. Crime is quite bad in Philly.
- We wouldn’t want ya.
- So, what causes crime to rise? What solutions do you offer?
  
  More people means more crime. On the aggregate.
  This person is ignoring the fact that per capita statistics are what's relevant here. And those are very clear. People like this just pretend they don't exist because it literally shows the opposite is true. That red, conservative, rural areas have far more violent crime and murder per capita.
  
  Reduce wealth and income inequality somehow. There's been no research on UBI reducing crime afaik and honestly I don't know that it would work for that. People need to feel like they are doing valuable work.
  Cops on foot patrol in neighborhoods NOT to punish anyone but literally just to get to know the community and make eye contact.
  Access to training and education to promote moving into higher income and responsibility jobs.
  Mental health support (although people won't want help as long as they are Fighting against the system)
  There need to be healthy, organic, non-crime non-drug non-gang groups for people to be part of. I don't know what is are into these days. Basketball? Dancing on Tiktok? Anything social.
- Asshats like you certainly don’t help the Lou be better, you’re welcome to stay away forever while we enjoy our T-ravs
  
  How dare one not want to live somewhere because of... checks statement... high crime rates.
- Yeah, I grew up in South Jersey, about an hour SE and there's at least one news story about a murder that happened somewhere in Philly each night. Sometimes multiple separate shootings. Most of Philly is a shit hole.

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