Jailed fugitive claims self-defense in Atlantic City killing

A former fugitive in an Atlantic City homicide was defending himself when he fatally shot a Philadelphia man, his attorney said Friday.

Kenneth Creek, 48, was charged within days of the Aug. 25 killing of Jordan Eaddy.

Eaddy, 31, of Philadelphia, was found fatally shot just after midnight in the 1300 block of Baltic Avenue by officers responding to a ShotSpotter audio gunshot-detection alert.

But what has not been released to the public before is that Eaddy had a gun, and likely fired it, according to information presented by defense attorney Robert Johnson at Creek's detention hearing Friday.

"It's not just me saying the victim had a gun in this case, it's the police investigation," attorney Robert Johnson told the judge.

The gun was found near Eaddy's right hand when police responded to the scene, he said. There also was a shell casing "establishing that he fired that weapon."

There is no proof that Creek possessed any weapon until "the key moment when self-defense from deadly force was being applied," Johnson said.

Creek nodded as Johnson talked about his need to defend himself.

He had been wanted since a failure to appear in a terrorist threats case from last year, court records show.

The Atlantic County Prosecutor's Office announced Aug. 29, that he was wanted in the killing.

Creek and Aaron Callahan were indicted Nov. 29 on charges including murder, conspiracy to commit murder and weapons offenses.

Callahan was already jailed at the time. Creek was arrested Aug. 18, in Atlantic City's Carver Hall by U.S. Marshalls.

Callahan has indicated that he gave the gun to Creek, but did not know it was going to be used to kill anyone, according to information released at Callahan's detention hearing in September.

The gun used in the killing was found in Callahan's home and identified as belonging to him by Callahan's 7-year-old son, Johnson said.

Callahan's DNA was on the gun but Creek's was not.

Surveillance video shows the killing, Chief Assistant Prosecutor David Ruffenach said.

Johnson argued for Creek's release, saying the public safety assessment used to help determine whether a defendant is detained was not accurate.

It scored Creek at the highest risk on the six-point scale for both failure to appear and likelihood to reoffend.

He noted that it has been decades since Creek had a criminal history.

"If Mr. Creek doesn't get detained, nobody should be detained," Ruffenach countered.

"If released, he’s not going to come back to court," he added. "He has demonstrated he is not going to come to court.
He had an active warrant (for terroristic threats) at the time of this murder."

Judge Dorothy Garrabrant ordered him held.

Creek will now remain in the Atlantic County Justice Facility.