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Philadelphia carjacking victims starting to fight back
As the carjacking crisis continues in Philadelphia, some victims have started to fight back with fists and guns. A teenage suspect was badly injured in a shootout when police say he and another suspect attempted to carjack a driver in Mount Airy who was legally armed with his own weapon.
MOUNT AIRY - A teenage suspect was badly injured in a shootout when police say he and another suspect attempted to carjack a driver in Mount Airy who was legally armed with his own weapon.
Philadelphia Police Chief Inspector Scott Small told reporters that a 60-year-old man was getting out of his car on the 6500 block of Cherokee Street just after 8 p.m. when he was approached by two young carjackers.
One of the suspects demanded the man's key and pointed a gun at his face, according to police. The man then pulled out his own gun and a shootout occurred that included nearly 17 gunshots being fired.
The carjackers fled, but the man told responding officers from the Philadelphia Police Department that he had shot the armed carjacker.
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Police were later called to the 6700 block of Germantown Avenue - just three blocks from the shootout - and found a 16-year-old inside a Jeep bleeding heavily from the legs, Small said.
Officers drove the teen to Einstein Medical Center where he was listed in critical condition due to a loss of blood, according to police. The 60-year-old later identified the teen as the gunman who tried to carjack him.
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It was later discovered that the Jeep the teen was found in was stolen during a carjacking last weekend, according to police. A shoe that was found at the scene of the shootout matched a shoe found by police inside the Jeep.
Police say the 60-year-old man has a permit to carry a firearm and was not injured despite having several shots fired towards his face.
"He wasn't hurt, but there's gunshot residue to his face. So just a matter of inches. He could have been or would have been struck by gunfire and possibly killed. So he's very lucky," Small said.
Philadelphia police have recently addressed the spike in carjackings after 757 were reported in 2021 - a 34% increase over 2020. So far in 2022, police say 90 carjackings have already been reported.
This incident marks at least the third time in 2022 a carjacking suspect has been shot by a legally armed driver. Earlier this month, a Lyft driver shot and wounded two suspects who police say carjacked him while he was transporting a passenger. Last week, another armed driver fired several through his window when an armed suspect approached his window in what police believe was another carjacking attempt. The 18-year-old suspect was shot several times and has since been charged in the incident.
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