What to Know
- A man "on a rampage" armed with an assault-style rifle shot at a person inside a Germantown church before stealing a car early Thursday morning, police said.
- The gunman then crashed the car and wound up shooting and killing a 19-year-old woman during a carjacking attempt, Philadelphia police said.
- Police would later shoot and kill the man after they say he refused to drop his weapon, tried to steal a police car and fired on officers.
A carjacking in Philadelphia’s Germantown neighborhood early Thursday morning ended with a young woman dead and the man suspected of killing her shot and killed by police officers responding to the scene, which spread out over several blocks over a period of about 10 minutes.
Philadelphia Police Department Sgt. Eric Gripp called the gunman a "deranged individual who was on a rampage."
The incident began around 4 a.m. when the 29-year-old man, armed with an assault-style weapon, entered Saint Luke's Episcopal Church on the 5400 block of Germantown Avenue and approached an employee, Philadelphia police said.
He shot at the worker and took her car keys. The worker wasn't injured.
He then drove off in that worker's car before crashing along Greene Street, police said.
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The man then got out of that car, which later appeared to have a flat tire, around 4:15 a.m. and tried to carjack a woman, firing several shots, Gripp said. That woman backed up and was able to get away.
He then attacked a 19-year-old woman driving an Infiniti around Chelten Avenue and Greene Street, police said. During that interaction, the man shot the woman, leaving her in the car.
Officers rushed to the scene after receiving multiple 911 calls, Gripp said. They found the injured young woman and rushed her to the hospital where she died a short time later.
The man left the car and ran off, his weapon in hand, police said.
Officers in a marked police van encountered the man a short distance later and ordered him to drop the assault-style rifle - which the man then pointed at officers, Gripp said. Officers opened fire on the man, but don't think they hit him.
The man fled on Greene Street then onto Rittenhouse Street.
Two other officers caught up to the suspect in a vacant lot, where he fired at least one shot at their marked police vehicle, police said. The officers got out and returned fire, and then the suspect tried to drive away in the police car, but the keys weren't in the car.
The man then began walking down Germantown Avenue, Gripp said. Police again ordered him to drop the weapon.
Police then shot the man along Germantown Avenue, investigators said. The man died a short time later at the hospital.
None of the four 14th District officers who fired shots were injured, police said.
The investigation was very active Thursday morning. Gripp said it didn't appear that the gunman had any previous connections to any of the people involved.
This story is developing and will be updated.
There are additional resources for people or communities that have endured gun violence in Philadelphia. Further information can be found here.
