Preliminary hearing reveals
more details in Liczbinski murder

By William Kenny
Times Staff Writer

Had circumstances been slightly different, Sgt. Stephen Liczbinski might not have been the only Philadelphia police officer shot to death while chasing suspects in a Port Richmond bank robbery late on the morning of May 3.
And two of the three alleged robbers might be facing trial on more than one capital murder charge, had Howard Cain’s semi-automatic rifle not jammed after five of its 30 rounds had been fired.
More chilling details of the bank heist turned assassination were revealed in a Center City courtroom last week as two men were ordered to stand trial.
The family of the 39-year-old slain officer and Burholme resident endured the emotional three-hour preliminary hearing on May 15 with his widow Michelle, sons Matt and Stephen and daughter Amber consoling one another as witnesses described the final moments of their husband and father.
"He was going to kill another cop," Assistant District Attorney Mark Gilson said of Cain, the 33-year-old alleged shooter whom police in turn shot and killed minutes after his confrontation with Liczbinski.
"There’s absolutely no doubt about it. If that gun hadn’t jammed, there would have been two police officers killed in the line of duty that day," Gilson told reporters after the hearing.
Municipal Court Judge Bradley Moss ordered Cain’s two alleged accomplices, 39-year-old Levon Warner and 33-year-old Eric DeShawn Floyd, held pending trial in accordance with Pennsylvania law prohibiting bail for defendants in capital cases.
Warner, of the 5400 block of Westminster Ave. in West Philadelphia, and Floyd, who was living with Cain on the 600 block of W. Clearfield St. in North Philadelphia, each face more than two dozen charges in all, including attempted murder, robbery, conspiracy, aggravated assault and weapons violations.
Witness Dixie Widing, a Port Richmond resident, testified that she was gardening at about 11:30 a.m. when she heard police sirens and saw Liczbinski stop the suspected robbers at Schiller and Almond streets.
Widing said she saw one of the bandits step out of the getaway vehicle and shoot the officer outside of his patrol car.
"I was just screaming, ‘Help! Call 911,’" Widing testified.
Widing claimed that the gunman then pointed his rifle at her before he got back into the passenger side of the blue Jeep and sped away.
In statements read in court by police homicide detectives, both defendants allegedly admitted to involvement in the robbery and its aftermath.
Warner claimed that Floyd was driving the getaway vehicle, while Cain was in the front passenger seat.
As Liczbinski closed in pursuit, Floyd yelled, "Bang him!" according to Warner’s alleged statement.
Warner, who was holding the Chinese-made SKS rifle, handed it to Cain. When Floyd stopped the Jeep, Cain allegedly got out and began shooting.
In a separate statement, Floyd said he never meant for anyone to get killed, according to police.
"I’m not the monster people make me out to be," the wheelman allegedly told detectives after his May 8 capture in a boarded-up Southwest Philly rowhouse.
"All of them, every one of them, had their hands on that rifle," Gilson later said.
The prosecutor played a 911 tape in court that was the final recording of Liczbinski’s voice. In it, the sergeant reported spotting the suspects’ Jeep on the 3500 block of Edgemont St.
Moments earlier, three men had robbed a Bank of America branch inside the Shop Rite, at 3547 Aramingo Ave. Two of the men wore Muslim-style burka gowns while a third wore a dreadlock wig and dust mask over his face.
Liczbinski pursued the Jeep eastbound onto Schiller Street and, using his call sign "24-Andy," reported to police radio again as they approached Almond Street.
When Liczbinski’s updates went silent, the radio operator asked several times for his location but got no response.
After shooting Liczbinski, the suspects allegedly ditched the Jeep on the 3400 block of N. Miller St. Cain got into Warner’s Chrysler minivan, while Warner and Floyd fled on foot, authorities believe.
Police cornered the van on the 500 block of E. Louden St. in Feltonville. Cain, the only occupant, allegedly postured to shoot police with the weapon he had already used to take down Liczbinski. Officers fired at Cain and wounded him fatally. Cain didn’t get off any more shots.
Meanwhile, other police officers grabbed Warner and questioned him. He initially claimed that someone stole his minivan, but investigators soon dismissed that story.
Floyd remained at large for four days but was found hiding in squalor with a girlfriend, who reportedly supplied him with food, cigarettes and drugs as needed.
The girlfriend, Tonya Lynne Stephens, and another alleged accomplice after the fact, Isaac Albright, await preliminary hearings on obstruction of justice charges. Albright allegedly drove Floyd from North Philadelphia to his hideout in the hours after the killing.
Howard Cain’s uncle, Mitchell Cain, 48, was ordered last week to stand trial for taking part in a May 2 carjacking in West Philly in which he, Cain and Floyd allegedly stole the blue Jeep from an unlicensed taxi driver. ••
Reporter William Kenny can be reached at 215-354-3031 or bkenny@phillynews.com