A 28-year-old man died late Thursday after he was apparently shot by police officers in both Philadelphia and Delaware only hours apart.
Leroy Brown Jr., a father of three, was identified by family members.
In preliminary accounts of what happened, Philadelphia police and New Castle County, Delaware, police described two incidents that occurred roughly two hours apart and which both involved police discharges.
About 5:45 p.m. in the Kingsessing section of Southwest Philadelphia, officers responded to a call of a "person with a gun" at 56th Street and Whitby Avenue. When they arrived, they allegedly found Brown getting into the driver's seat of a minivan.
Officers also allegedly saw a woman in the front seat, but did not see four children in the back seats of the van, according to the city police account.
When officers tried to stop Brown from driving away, he allegedly accelerated the van in reverse, striking an officer. That same officer, described as "positioned at the open driver's door area," allegedly then saw Brown reaching under his seat. The officer then shot Brown in his left side.
But Brown allegedly managed to drive away, according to the account.
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He was able to steal another vehicle a few blocks away and get the woman and all four children into the vehicle before fleeing, police allege in the account.
Two hours later, New Castle County, Delaware, police went to a neighborhood in Wilmington after a call that Brown was there.
Police found him in the 100 block of Carriage Way and chased him to a parked car, where Brown allegedly scuffled with an officer, who shot him, according to the New Castle County police account.
Brown died a short time later at Christiana Medical Center. The New Castle County officer who fought with Brown was also injured. He was treated and released from a nearby hospital.
Both police departments said both shootings remain under investigation.
