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Sailor killed while trying to break up fight

PHILADELPHIA — A veteran sailor who survived two tours of duty in the Middle East was shot and killed while trying to break up an argument, city police said.

Mass Communication Specialist (AW) 2nd Class John Marshall, 36, had only been in Philadelphia for two hours Tuesday to pick up his two youngest children from his mother’s house and take them home to Virginia Beach, Va., where they lived with him.

Police said Marshall, a Philadelphia native, had been trying to stop a heated argument between his younger brother and four men who were relatives and friends of his brother’s ex-girlfriend.

Robert Cabell, 26, allegedly pulled out a handgun and shot Marshall in the stomach in front of his children, relatives and neighbors. He was charged with murder and related offenses.

Marshall’s wife, Barbara, said his four children had been staying with him in Virginia Beach to protect them from violence in Philadelphia. He and his wife were separated but were trying to resolve their problems.

He had driven up with his two teenage children to pick up his 8-year-old daughter and 10-year-old son, and take them back to Virginia in time for the start of the school year.

“This is unbelievable,” Barbara Marshall said. “I am 29. I have four kids. My husband was 36 and is now dead.”

Marshall had been a war photographer for Combat Camera, a medium for military photojournalism. He returned home safe from tours of duty in the Persian Gulf and Iraq.

Barbara Marshall said she is considering moving to Virginia.

“I have to figure out how to live the dream he wanted in Virginia Beach,” she said. “They can’t lose everything — their friends, their home and their father.”

Marshall, who had previously been in the Army, enlisted in the Navy in 1993. His assignments included two years aboard the destroyer Scott; a stint as a recruiter in Philadelphia; a year aboard the carrier Nimitz; and two stints with the Navy’s Visual Support Center in Virginia Beach, Va.