Bar owner slain in Point Breeze

0 Comments | Philadelphia Inquirer, The, December, 2006 | by Joseph A. Gambardello

Reginald Branham became a computer whiz while at Overbrook High School in the 1980s, earning a four-year scholarship to Drexel University and becoming a computer executive. In recent years, however, he had turned his attention to fixing up bars. On Christmas night, Branham, 37, was shot dead at his latest bar, Cognac Corner in the 1400 block of South 21st Street in Point Breeze, making him the city's 402d homicide victim of the year.

Police were not talking about a motive today, but on the street outside the bar, those who said they knew Branham spoke of a possible hit and witness intimidation involving an earlier shooting. They pointed to the boarded-up passenger window of his Mercedes SUV, which they said had been smashed in the last week, and neighbors mentioned that...