Local man stabbed on 43rd and Sansom

Two West Philadelphia residents were victims of violent crimes near the University Wednesday. An unidentified local man was stabbed late Wednesday night during a mugging at 43rd and Sansom streets, a witness said. Another resident was robbed of clothing and jewelry at gunpoint Wednesday night on 41st and Spruce streets, according to police. In a third incident, University and Philadelphia police arrested a local man at 43rd and Walnut streets and confiscated a loaded gun from him, police said. A University student living near 43rd and Sansom streets said he witnessed the Wednesday night mugging near his apartment and said the victim was stabbed in the shoulder. College of General Studies senior Todd Schiff said he was watching television in his apartment at about 11:30 p.m. Wednesday when he heard someone screaming "hysterically" in the street. Schiff said he looked out his window and saw a man lying face down in the street and another man standing over him. "He was screaming, 'Give me your money, give me your money,'" Schiff said. Schiff said the assailant was a man wearing a jogging suit. The victim, he said, was a white man between 25 and 35 years old. Philadelphia Police investigating the incident could not be reached for comment and the victim's identity was unavailable. "The mugger sounded real nuts," Schiff said. "He was insane. I thought he was just going to kill him right there." Schiff said he yelled out the window that he was calling the police, and then dialed for city police. He said he then grabbed a bottle and ran out into the street to help. When he got there, the assailant was gone. "The guy [the victim] had dragged himself to the side of the street," he said. "He was kind of bent over a car. I said, 'Are you okay?' and he said 'I've been cut. I've been cut. I've been stabbed.' " He said the man received a single stab wound in his left shoulder. He said the blade probably went completely through his shoulder since the man was bleeding both in front and in back. Police and paramedics arrived within moments. Schiff said he believes the incident resembles a stabbing early Sunday morning of a 1990 University graduate near 41st and Chesnut streets. In both cases, the victims appeared to have been stabbed without warning. Only after stabbing the victims, apparently, did the assailants ask for money. Further details were unavailable from Philadelphia Police. University Police have made no arrests in the armed robbery of an 18-year-old Boccie Pizzeria employee at 10:30 p.m. Wednesday. University Police spokesperson Sylvia Canada said the employee approached officers on the 4000 block of Locust Street and told police he had been robbed minutes before. He said two men, one of whom carried a silver revolver, robbed him of a $250 leather jacket and a gold chain. He told police he followed the men and last saw them heading toward campus but lost track of them. Police could not locate them. Police did catch a West Philadelphia resident wanted in other crimes by city police. Two University Police officers on 43rd and Walnut heard a report over the radio of two males with a gun near 44th and Sansom streets. The officers spotted two possible suspects, apprehended them and found one had a loaded 38-caliber Smith and Wesson revolver. The suspect, Wiliam Gordon, 21, of the 200 block of S. 48th Street, was arrested and transfered to Philadelphia Police.

Please note All comments are eligible for publication in The Daily Pennsylvanian.