Posted on Wed, May. 14, 2008

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Little change in case of Marvin Harrison

By DAVID GAMBACORTA
Philadelphia Daily News

gambacd@phillynews.com 215-854-5994

Little has changed since NFL star Marvin Harrison was linked to a North Philadelphia shooting two weeks ago.

Harrison still has not been charged with any wrongdoing, but national interest in the April 29 incident remains high.

That night, Harrison was involved in a fistfight with a 32-year-old man on Thompson Street near 25th, where Harrison owns a car-detail shop, police sources said.

When the fight was over, the unidentified man - who had been kicked out of Harrison's bar, Playmakers, two weeks earlier - was shot in the hand. A little boy also suffered minor injuries when a stray bullet shattered a nearby car windshield.

Investigators concluded that six shell casings found at the scene had been fired by a Belgian firearm that Harrison owns, the sources said.

While Harrison admitted to detectives that he owned the gun and was involved in the fistfight that night, he insisted that he had nothing to do with the shooting, sources said.

The victim has refused to cooperate with police and to identify the person who shot him.

Since then - while investigators have struggled to find witnesses - the Indianapolis Colts wide receiver and his handlers have maintained his innocence.

Harrison recently assured top Colts brass, including head coach Tony Dungy and president Bill Polian, that he was not involved in the shooting, according to a story reported yesterday by the Indianapolis Star.

Colts owner Jim Irsay did not respond to a Daily News interview request, but he seemed to strike a careful tone with the Star. "At this point I'm keeping my fingers crossed," Irsay told the paper. "We've done everything we could do in our diligence to try to discern what happened. He said he was not involved in that shooting and . . . the authorities have said there is nothing imminent."

Last week, crime-scene investigators found, in a rowhouse on Thompson Street, three more stray bullets that they believed were from the April 29 incident. Results of ballistics tests are not yet known.

Internet sites have run wild with rumors about the shooting.

One report suggested that Harrison had been the target of a gangland hit supposedly tied to his incarcerated father - despite the factthat Harrison's father has been dead for years.