I woke up this morning to the news that somebody was stabbed to death within the shadow of the Lower Merion Township Building and Police Department early Saturday morning after some sort of bar fight on Cricket Avenue.
Philadelphia Inquirer: A man was killed in a Main Line stabbing authorities are calling a homicide
by Diane Mastrull
Published Jun 10, 2023
Michael Thomas Sides, 31, of Ardmore, was stabbed after an earlier “altercation” at a bar and pronounced dead at Lankenau Medical Center at 2:28 a.m. Saturday.
A 31-year-old Ardmore man was stabbed to death early Saturday morning in Lower Merion Township in what law enforcement officials are calling an apparent homicide….Indications are that the stabbing followed an earlier “altercation” in a nearby bar, authorities said. An investigation by county detectives and Lower Merion police continues, although the suspect appears to have been identified by them.
Authorities would not say whether that person was in custody. But a spokesperson for the District Attorney’s Office said in an email: “We are not looking for the suspect. But still looking for witnesses.”
It’s also pretty close to a cute little street where friends live and have for decades. Fox29 News remarked that there are lots of shops and apartments, but also right there are plenty of single family homes.
Bar fight leads to fatal stabbing of 31-year-old man in Montgomery County, officials say
By FOX 29 Staff and Cheyenne Corin
LOWER MERION TWP., Pa. – A deadly stabbing outside a Lower Merion bar has stunned the quiet town on the Main Line. Police say they do know who they are looking for.
Officers responded to the intersection of Cricket Avenue and Cricket Terrace in Lower Merion to find a 31-year-old man suffering from stab wounds around 1:30 a.m. Saturday.
The victim, identified as Michael Thomas Sides, was pronounced shortly after at a local hospital….The owner of Jack McShea’s told FOX 29 Sides was one of his employees. He was too upset to go on camera, but says Sides was like family and a beautiful person who worked there for years.
I was amused by someone interviewed by Fox29 who proclaimed it was the Main Line and these things don’t happen there. I am paraphrasing, but that’s the gist of it.
Murder happens everywhere, and it happens in Ardmore although not often thank goodness . In 2021 there was the botched ghost gun murder. 2002 was a horrible murder suicide, in Ardmore. In 2019 the man who murdered a woman in her Ardmore apartment was sentenced. Again it doesn’t happen a great deal, but murder does happen in the magic kingdom of Lower Merion.
The murder happened where there are so many windows of so many apartments in that hideous apartment building that used to be a parking lot that backed up to what used to be the movie theater. It looks like it started in that John Henry’s Pub that used to be Annie’s years ago? My educated guess there comes from the fact that FOX 29 featured that bar it in a shot of their news report.
My sources around town were told that it must have started as a beef over at that bar and perhaps whomever did it went looking for the murder victim where he worked and then they met up at that intersection, is this true? Someone else said, both the victim and the alleged perpetrator live in Ardmore? (And so LMPD doesn’t get their parties in a bunch, I don’t have any inside information, but one thing about downtown Ardmore is it is a community and people talk, and people are talking about this.)
The psychology of committing a murder is something that you can’t help but just wonder about. And why do I say that? Simple. We all get mad at people, but what is it that causes someone to take another person’s life? What disconnect is in their brain? I certainly don’t know Michael Thomas Sides, but he had friends and one presumes relatives and was 31 years old. He had a lot of life left to live.
I’ve been looking at the media reports on this and the media reports state the police know whom they are looking for so why don’t they name a suspect or show video footage because there have to be security cameras around there one would think?
And what caused the altercation in the first place? I mean bar fights and beefs start over all sorts of stuff, right? Dumb things like a barstool, or owing somebody money, or a perceived slight when someone else is wasted or hitting on someone’s girl, right? So what was it?
My age must be showing but it used to be when there was a bar fight in Ardmore, it wasn’t settled with weapons. You might see some barstools fly around. You would hear glass get broken. You might even see somebody get punched or tossed out of a bar by a bouncer, but not hear they were murdered later.
But this whole thing being reported of a beef in a bar and then these guys meet up on the street later sounds like somebody was looking for somebody else begs the question of was this premeditated?
And I guess the police can say that there’s no potential threat to the public, but how do you know these days? If the police are implying they know who it is, then why aren’t they releasing more information?
Anyway I hope this is resolved soon. Ardmore will always be a special place to me. Prayers to the families of those involved because their lives are all changed forever now.
Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin R. Steele and Lower Merion Township Police Superintendent Michael J. McGrath announce the investigation of a homicide that occurred in the early morning hours of Saturday, June 10, 2023.
On Saturday, at 1:33 a.m., Lower Merion Police responded to a reported stabbing at the intersection of Cricket Avenue and Cricket Terrace in the Ardmore section of Lower Merion. Upon arrival, they located a male suffering from stab wounds. The victim, later identified as Michael Thomas Sides, was transported to Lankenau Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead at 2:28 a.m. An autopsy is scheduled for today at the Montgomery County Coroner’s Office.
Montgomery County Detectives and Lower Merion Police launched a joint investigation into this apparent homicide. Early indications are the stabbing occurred following an earlier altercation in a nearby bar. There is no threat to the public at this time. Anyone with information is asked to contact the Lower Merion Township Police at 610-649-1000 or Montgomery County Detectives at 610-278-3368. Anonymous text tips can be submitted using MontcoCrimeTips on the STOPit! app.
~ Main Line Media News reporting a press release issued