A shooting of two West Philadelphia residents on campus this morning left one victim dead and the other with minor injuries
The incident occurred on the eastbound platform of the 37th and Spruce streets trolley station at about 6:40 this morning, Philadelphia police say.
Sgt. Tim Cooney of the Philadelphia Police Department said that two men were standing in the station waiting for the trolley with six other people. All live in the same halfway house at 600 University Ave., he added.
In a statement, Maureen Rush, Penn's vice president for public safety, described the attacker as a black man in his twenties with an average build and wearing a white sweatshirt with blue jeans.
The attacker ran down onto the platform and fired several shots at the men, Cooney said.
Up to 10 shots were fired, according to local news station KYW, with Cooney adding that one victim, who was also in his twenties, was shot multiple times in the upper torso and was later pronounced dead at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania at 8:29 a.m.
The other victim, believed to be a bystander, was also taken to HUP and was later released with a graze wound on his back, said Felipe Suarez, a SEPTA Police spokesman.
The names of the victims have not been released because the family of the deceased has not yet been notified, he added, though police did interview the others who were on the platform.
The attack was reported by a SEPTA employee, SEPTA spokesman Richard Maloney said. He added that the train was held up for about a half hour to 45 minutes, and passengers were evacuated from the trolley car. Service was also diverted from the station until about 12:15 p.m., when police ended their on-site investigation.
The attacker used a .45 caliber handgun, which has not yet been recovered, Maloney said.
The handgun has not yet been recovered, and police believe the shooter is armed and dangerous.
"You have an individual at large who has shot and killed a man today. - Everyone should be concerned," Cooney said.
But Rush added in her statement that the suspect was last observed fleeing West on Spruce Street toward 38th Street and said it appears that he has fled the area after "a coordinated, systematic search by all of the involved law enforcement agencies was conducted" and turned up no one.
Cooney declined to speculate on the possible motives behind the attack, as did officers at the scene from the Southwest Detectives Division.
Suarez paints a different picture, however.
According to SEPTA police, the attacker and a victim were standing together on the trolley platform and knew one another.
An argument ensued, SEPTA police said, and the attacker pulled out a gun and fired several shots at the victim, one of which hit the putative bystander, who was in his thirties and was also waiting for a trolley.
The attacker then fled the scene.
Cooney declined to comment on this version of events, saying that it was all "speculation" at this point.
No one affiliated with the University was involved.
The investigation is currently being handled by the homicide unit, which currently has no suspects.
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