A 24-year-old man is dead after police say a group of at least three people lay in wait and opened fire on him as he walked up to his house in Philadelphia’s Mayfair neighborhood Wednesday night.
The shooting happened just before 11 p.m. on the 4000 block of Gilham Street. According to police, the victim was returning home carrying a pizza box when he was ambushed on the front steps of the property.
Shooters Waited Nearly 30 Minutes Before Attack
Investigators say the gunmen had been parked behind the home in a dark colored vehicle for roughly half an hour before the young man arrived.
Philadelphia Police Chief Inspector Scott Small told reporters that surveillance video captured two shooters firing from the sidewalk while a third walked up onto the lawn toward the victim.
“Multiple shell casings were on the front lawn a few feet and a few inches from where the victim was laying, so clearly the shooters walked right up to this victim as he was going up the steps and fired multiple shots,” Small said.
The man was shot multiple times in the back and torso. The glass door of the home was also shattered during the gunfire.
Police rushed him to Jefferson-Torresdale Hospital, where he died just before midnight. After the shooting, the suspects ran back to their car and sped away before officers arrived on the scene.
Police have described the attack as targeted, though they have not released the identity of the victim or said whether he knew his attackers. No arrests have been made, and authorities have not released descriptions of the three suspects involved.
Neighbors Describe Shock and Close Call
The shooting rattled residents on what neighbors describe as a typically quiet stretch of Gilham Street. One woman who lives on the block, and asked not to appear on camera, told FOX 29 that the gunfire initially sounded like fireworks going off outside.
Arthur Howell, who lives next door to where the shooting took place, said the bullets came uncomfortably close to his own home.
“It could have come in sitting on our chair or couch. It didn’t get in that far, I have a closed in porch, and they were hitting the wall inside there,” Howell said.
Howell wasn’t home at the time of the shooting, but said his granddaughter was upstairs inside the house when the bullets struck the property. He didn’t say whether she was injured, but the moment underscored how close the violence came to spilling into a neighboring household entirely unconnected to the attack.
Philadelphia Police say the investigation remains active and ongoing. Detectives with the Homicide Unit are asking anyone with information about the shooting, including details about the dark colored vehicle used by the suspects, to come forward.
So far, key questions remain unanswered. Police haven’t confirmed who the victim was, why he may have been targeted, or whether the three suspects had any prior connection to him.
Authorities also haven’t said whether they’ve recovered the vehicle used in the attack or identified any of the people involved.
Anyone with information is urged to contact Philadelphia Police Homicide investigators. The case remains unsolved as of Thursday evening, with no suspects in custody.
