Police still looking for shooting suspect

Detectives are "focusing on several individuals' in the November 17 shooting of James McCormack. University and Philadelphia police are continuing their search for the man who shot a College senior two weeks ago in an attempted carjacking on the 4200 block of Pine Street. Detectives are "focusing on several individuals" as possible suspects in the November 17 incident, during which College senior James McCormack was shot in the abdomen, University Police Det. Commander Tom King said. McCormack was immediately rushed to the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, where doctors decided not to operate to remove the bullet. But HUP doctors kept McCormack in the hospital until the end of the week for observation. The incident began at 9:35 p.m., when a 25-to-35-year-old bearded black man wearing a green army jacket with a hood approached McCormack while he was standing at the trunk of his silver Ford Taurus. Although details remain unclear as to exactly what happened next, police said the man demanded McCormack's car keys and then shot him with a silver revolver after he did not hand them over. Witnesses told police that the assailant then fled west on Pine Street, south on 43rd Street and west on Osage Avenue, officials said. Although University and Philadelphia police officers searched the area, they were unable to find a man matching the description provided by the witnesses. The police department increased the number of plainclothes officers in the area as a result of the shooting, and the expanded force will be deployed "at least until there is an arrest," according to King. In a telephone interview after his release from HUP, McCormack criticized the University for failing to keep the area safe and said handing over his keys probably wouldn't have made a difference. "I think he already decided he would shoot me," McCormack said. "He already was going for his gun when I put my hands up." Residents of the 4200 block of Pine said they feel safe and are pleased with the current police presence. And data obtained recently from University Police indicates that virtually all types of major crime -- including robberies, burglaries and thefts -- are down from last fall, when a campus crime wave prompted the expansion of security services.

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