Target of murder plot hatched on Facebook is killed, police say
By Dave Warner, editing by Ellen Wulfhorst and Cynthia Johnston
Reuters – Tue, Aug 16, 2011

PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) - A man who authorities say was the target of a murder-for-hire plot hatched on Facebook by the mother of his child was shot and killed in Philadelphia, police said on Tuesday.

Corey White, 22, died at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania on Monday shortly after being shot in the chest on a Philadelphia street, police spokeswoman Tanya Little said.

White's ex-girlfriend, London Eley, 19, and Timothy Bynum, 18, who have been implicated in an alleged plot to kill White, were in jail at the time of the shooting, Little said.

The pair were arrested in June and charged with criminal solicitation for murder and attempted murder. Police began probing Eley and Bynum after getting a tip that Eley had posted on Facebook asking for someone to kill White, Little said.

Eley had offered to pay a "stack" -- slang for $1,000 -- for the killing, and Bynum allegedly responded on the social media site that he would do the job, Little said.

Prior to the shooting, the two were ordered by a municipal court judge on Monday to stand trial.

No arrests were made after White's death, but two unidentified men were seen in a brown car driving away from the scene, Little said.

(Reporting by Dave Warner, editing by Ellen Wulfhorst and Cynthia Johnston)