In wake of shooting, police search for assailant

College senior James McCormack was shot in the abdomen during an attempted carjecking Monday. While College senior James McCormack may be released today from the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, where he was treated for a gunshot wound to the abdomen, University and Philadelphia police are still searching the area for the man who shot him in an attempted carjacking last night. Police said they have not yet identified a suspect in the incident, but are searching for a 25-to-35-year-old black man seen at the scene. Witnesses described the man as about 5'8", "very dirty," with a beard and moustache and wearing a green army jacket with a grey hood. Immediately after the incident, McCormack was taken to HUP, where he was met by his family and girlfriend, a first-year graduate student. Although doctors did not operate to remove the bullet from his thigh, the senior was "very tired" and in "a lot of pain," according to police officials. McCormack may be released as early as today, but doctors have instructed him to stay home and rest for the remainder of the week, according to University President Judith Rodin, who visited him at HUP early yesterday morning. "He's expected to make a complete recovery," Rodin said. McCormack was shot around 9:30 p.m. Monday as he was leaving a friend's house on the 4200 block of Pine Street. As he stood at the trunk of his Ford Taurus, a man walked up and demanded his keys. When McCormack refused, the man shot him in the abdomen and fled the scene. McCormack is still trying to remember details about the shooting, so it is unclear whether the man pulled the gun before asking for the keys or after McCormack refused to hand them over, Director of Police Operations Maureen Rush said. The assailant fled west on Pine Street, south on 43rd Street, then west on Osage Avenue before witnesses lost track of him. "The one thing we're really gearing up to do right now is catch this guy," Rush said, explaining that more plainclothes officers will patrol the area until the assailant is arrested. She emphasized that there is already a substantial police presence on campus, as well as in the area where the incident occurred. "One of our Special Response Teams was a half-block away," she said. "The place was crawling with the normal patrols." Rush explained that even with the current "robust and full" levels of police protection, criminals may nevertheless find an opportunity to do harm. "People look around, they see something, they take advantage of that split-second opportunity," she said. University and Philadelphia police officials emphasized that student victims should accommodate to robbers' demands in the interest of their own safety. "There's nothing that you have on you that's worth getting hurt over," Penn Police Det. Commander Tom King said, but stressed that he "certainly doesn't blame the victim." Rodin added that "there's a behavioral lesson" in the incident: students should always "give it up" in a robbery. "You can always recover property," she said. Although this shooting was "frightening," Rodin emphasized that it comes at a time when crime is relatively low and should not make students afraid to go outside. "We are, we've been, we will continue to work to make this campus safer and safer," she said. Rodin also noted that the "long-term answer continues to be working to strengthen West Philadelphia." Citing partnerships like the UC Brite lighting initiative and the recently created University City District, she said the University has been active in improving the neighborhood through economic development, housing rehabilitation and fear reduction initiatives In fact, crime has decreased significantly when compared with the same period last year. Robberies, burglaries, simple assaults and thefts are all down sharply. Still, Rodin said crime in a city cannot be completely eliminated. "What we're doing is bringing the number down," she said. "None of us should ever imagine that it should ever entirely reach zero."

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