Philly Dad, Daughter Charged With Attempted Murder In Montco Stabbing

PHILADELPHIA — A Philadelphia father-daughter duo has been charged with attempted murder and more crimes after authorities said they stabbed a store security worker in Montgomery County.

Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin R. Steele and Cheltenham Township Police Chief John Slavin announce the arrest of Truman Parks, 52, and Sydney Swain-Parks, 27, both of Philadelphia.

Both are charged with attempted murder, conspiracy to commit murder, aggravated assault, recklessly endangering another person, and related charges.

The charges stem from an assault of a security guard earlier this month.

Authorities said Cheltenham officers on Dec. 6 were called to the Five Below at Greenleaf in Cheltenham for a reported stabbing.

There, they found a man lying in a pool of blood, suffering from life-threatening injuries, going in and out of consciousness.

He was taken to Jefferson Einstein Philadelphia Hospital, where he underwent emergency surgery and was later released.

Investigators looked at surveillance footage and found that the suspect, later identified as Truman Parks, went into the Five Below three times on Dec. 6.

One of those times was at about 4:45 p.m., when Truman Parks was seen in the store where he put $150 worth of store merchandise in a store basket. He left the store without paying for the items and without a confrontation, authorities said.

Then at 5:15 p.m., he came back to return the empty Five Below basket.

The victim, who was the store’s security guard, followed Truman Parks out of the store, where surveillance video captures the two engaged in a "heated verbal exchange."

At 6:26 p.m., Truman Parks went back to the store a third time in a blue Jeep Liberty that was being driven by a woman, later identified as Sydney Swain-Parks.

Video footage showed them both enter the store and looking down aisles until the found the victim. Truman Parks then approached the victim from behind and stabbed him, the DA's office said.

The victim was seen on video frantically fighting for his life, attempting to get away. After punching the victim, Truman Parks ran past the victim, fleeing the store, authorities said. Sydney Swain-Parks was captured on video calmly stepping around the victim on her way out of the store, according to the DA's office.

Detectives searched the vehicle’s license plate through the Automatic License Plate Reader registry and found a car matching the description. It was found that the same vehicle was involved in a minor crash earlier in the day, and the driver at the time of the accident was identified as Sydney Swain-Parks.

Through PennDOT records, an address was found for Sydney Swain-Parks, showing Truman Parks also had previously resided at the residence.

The PennDOT photo of Truman Parks matched the video surveillance.

Truman Parks and Sydney Swain-Parks were arraigned at 7:30 p.m. on Dec. 19, by Magisterial District Judge Dara Nasatir.

Bail was set for Truman Parks at $10 million cash and $500,000 cash for Sydney Swain-Parks.

A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Dec. 30.