A couple of would-be carjackers found themselves under fire as police say the intended victim was armed in Cheltenham Township early on Tuesday morning.
Police say that both sides fired shots and one of the suspects got away.
The incident unfolded on the 1900 block of Humphrey Merry Way in the Lynnewood Gardens Apartments just after 2:30 a.m., police said.
Divine Allen Hargrove is an 18-year-old from Philadelphia who is now charged with multiple crimes after police say he was found near a ghost gun that was loaded with more rounds than what officers typically carry.
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The intended target was a person driving for DoorDash, police say.
Since DoorDash drivers do not deal with cash, Lt. Snyder said that investigators believe that carjacking was the motive for this incident.
Police say the DoorDash driver was armed with a legally purchased gun and a permit to carry.
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"They feel the need to arm themselves for their own personal protection and it's incidents like this that kind of reinforce that philosophy," Lt. Andrew Snyder said.
When this DoorDash driver arrived to deliver food to a residence in Cheltenham Township, he was confronted by two people and one of them had a gun, police said.
The driver told police that after one of the suspects demanded his keys, he threw them to the ground. Police say this is when the driver heard a gunshot.
Officials say there have been similar robberies reported in the area, and in this case, the driver was armed. He told police that he fired back.
"We really want to hear from anybody who may have been a victim of something similar who just didn't report it or felt that they didn't want to get involved," Lt. Snyder told NBC10.
That was when the two men took off running before Hargrove was tracked down by a K-9 when he was hiding out near a garage.
Thankfully, no one was hurt.
Hargrove told police that he was actually the victim, according to officials.
But the real victim, the DoorDash driver, was able to provide a description of the men who approached him and Hargrove matched.
Hargrove was taken to a nearby correctional facility on $100,000 cash bail.
If you have any information on this case, please contact Cheltenham Police at 215-885-1600 or send an email to PoliceTips@CheltenhamPA.gov.
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