Suspects went through the pockets of a man who lay dying after he was gunned down on the 500 block of West Luray Street in Hunting Park Tuesday night, police said.
The 33-year-old victim was from the Philadelphia suburb of Horsham in Montgomery County, police said. He died a short time later at Temple University Hospital. His name was not immediately released.
The man was shot once in the left side of the chest and once in the left arm before at least two people were seen going through his pockets as he lay in the street around 8:30 p.m., police said. Investigators haven't confirmed that those people were also the shooters.
Witnesses told police they saw "two males reaching over [the victim], reaching into his pockets. This is clearly a robbery," said Chief Inspector Scott Small.
Those two men were seen leaving the scene in a white car, Small said. Police do not know what, if anything, was taken from the victim.
Small added that much of the incident was caught on cameras registered to the police department. Businesses with these cameras installed frequently turn over footage to police during investigations, he said.
Investigators found identification dropped by someone at the scene, and said it doesn't belong to the victim. The ID belongs to someone from West Philadelphia, prompting police to look for suspects in that area. No arrests were announced.
Homicides in Philadelphia are up 35 percent from this time last year, according to the Philadelphia Police Department's crime map. Less than one month into the New Year, there have already been 26 deaths by homicide compared to 17 in 2016.
Across the city in West Philadelphia, a 24-year-old male was shot while walking with a friend near 46th Street and Girard Avenue just before midnight Tuesday night, police said.
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The victim was shot in the lower back after getting into an argument with an unnamed suspect on the sidewalk. He ran one block west to a BP gas station to get help. The victim was taken to a nearby hospital in stable condition.
Investigators found a shell casing near the shooting. Police said the suspect is in his 20s and wore a dark jacket.
