Men and women, united by tragedy

PHILADELPHIA Dozens attended a Saturday rally to protest several recent purse snatchings that have ended in shootings. Organized by Handbags 4 Peace, a community movement begun after the shooting death of a West Philadelphia woman this month, the rally featured several speakers, including Stephanie Long, mother of Amber Long, who was killed in a Northern Liberties purse snatching in January.

Speaking to the crowd, Long said women could take precautions when walking at night but could also "go after the roots of this thing.

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Rally protests deadly purse snatchings, urges caution
 Via Handbags 4 Peace
Courtesy of https://phillytrib.com, By: Nathaniel Lee

Stephanie Long, mother of Amber Long who was killed in the Northern Liberties section of Philadelphia during a purse snatching, speaks during rally held Saturday at 5300 block of Market Street in West Philadelphia. The event was organized by the group Handbags 4 Peace. — Photograph by Nathaniel Lee Residents converged on the corner of 53rd and Market streets in West Philadelphia to protest the recent rash of pocketbook snatchings which have resulted in two fatalities, one in Northern Liberties on Jan. 29 and the other on Feb. 2 at the site of the rally.

On Sunday night, Feb. 2, police were called to the vicinity of 53rd and Market just after 2:30 a.m. in response to a shooting near the Tropical Heat bar. When officers arrived at the scene they found a woman suffering from a gunshot wound to the chest. She was pronounced dead at the scene . She was identified as Melissa Thomas, 29. Her friend, a 35-year-old woman, was wounded in the arm by gunfire; her name has not been released by authorities. She was taken to the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania in critical condition.Stephanie Long, mother of Amber Long who was killed in the Northern Liberties section of Philadelphia during a purse snatching, speaks during rally held Saturday at 5300 block of Market Street in West Philadelphia. The event was organized by the group Handbags 4 Peace. — Photograph by Nathaniel Lee Residents converged on the corner of 53rd and Market streets in West Philadelphia to protest the recent rash of pocketbook snatchings which have resulted in two fatalities, one in Northern Liberties on Jan. 29 and the other on Feb. 2 at the site of the rally.

Click to read more -> http://www.handbags4peace.com/2/post/2014/02/rally-protests-deadly-purse-snatchings-urges-caution.html

The shooting of Amber Long Stephanie Long recalls the moments before and after her daughter was shot in Philadelphia. Video by Julia Hatmaker | jhatmaker@pennlive.com

By Aubrey Whelan, Inquirer Staff WriterPOSTED: February 03, 2014
Amber Long doesn't live here anymore.

But traces of the 26-year-old architect are everywhere in the sunny second-floor walk-up on Ritner Street.

Plants cover nearly every flat surface, vines twining down the sides of the fireplace, around the front door, over the windowsill. A pair of her gloves are still draped over a chair. A pool cue leans against the door. A library book - a fantasy novel - rests on the coffee table.

An enormous, unfinished canvas, a detailed landscape showing a river cutting through towering cliffs, sits propped by the big bay windows in the living room.

"Amber surrounded herself with beautiful things, and this apartment was one of them," said Stephanie Long, her mother.
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Click to read more ->http://articles.philly.com/2014-02-03/news/46927545_1_roller-coasters-living-room-longs

Posted on: 10:34 pm, January 21, 2014, by Peggy Lee,
Newswatch 16 has learned that a woman who grew up in central Pennsylvania was shot and killed in an attempted purse snatching in Philadelphia.

Police there say the killing of Amber Long, 26, happened as her shocked mother watched.

Investigators say Amber and her mother Stephanie Long were walking in the 900 block of North Front Street just before 11 p.m. Sunday when two men jumped them and grabbed their purses.

One of them got Stephanie’s purse but when Amber fought back against her attacker, she was shot.

The men fled the scene in a car; Amber died at the hospital.
Click to read more -> http://wnep.com/2014/01/21/reports-shooting-victim-in-philadelphia-has-ties-to-central-pa/

PHILADELPHIA, Pa. – Philadelphia police released surveillance footage on Thursday that shows the shooting death of a young woman in a robbery-turned-homicide, reports CBS Philadelphia.

Authorities said Amber Long, 26, was shot by an assailant around 10:30 p.m. on Sunday while walking down the street with her mother in the Northern Liberties section of Philadelphia. Police released the surveillance video in an attempt to get help identifying her killers.

The victim's mother, Stephanie Long, reportedly said Amber was killed when she refused to give up her purse. 

“I believe the men saw them and thought they were easy targets,” Philadelphia Police Captain James Clark told reporters Monday afternoon.

Click to read more -> http://www.cbsnews.com/news/pennsylvania-police-release-video-of-deadly-purse-snatching/

By Mike Newall and Aubrey Whelan, Inquirer Staff Writers

POSTED: January 22, 2014
It had been a pleasant Sunday for Stephanie and Amber Long: a shopping trip where they picked out a $14 purse, an evening jewelry party. And now, mother and daughter were making their way home.

It was around 10:30 p.m., and they were walking to their car, parked on a Belgian block-paved stretch of Front Street in Northern Liberties where ritzy new apartments share space with vacant lots.

On the last day of her life, 26-year-old Amber, an architect who lived in South Philadelphia, had parked near a friend's house. She and her mother, Stephanie, a jeweler from Harrisburg who often visited her daughter, were steps from their car.

Continue Reading -> http://articles.philly.com/2014-01-22/news/46416644_1_mother-and-daughter-two-men-monday-night