On the evening of Nov. 28 around 11:30 p.m., a man was shot and killed near the intersection of 35th Street and Lancaster Avenue.
According to ABC 6 Philadelphia, the victim, a 21-year-old student at Gloucester County Community College in New Jersey, was visiting his girlfriend, a 22-year-old student at Drexel University. Witnesses said that he and his girlfriend got into an argument, and as he was walking away, he was confronted by a stranger.
Then the man and the victim began to fight, pushing and shoving each other, until the stranger unveiled a gun and shot the victim three times in the chest.
Drexel senior Kylie Strong, who saw the incident while on her way to work, said in an interview with ABC 6 Philadelphia that the argument between the couple seemed to spawn from jealousy. She added that she thought the stranger approached the boyfriend for reasons related to the couple’s argument.
According to CBS Local Philadelphia, Drexel University and Philadelphia police arrived at the scene and transported the victim to Penn Presbyterian Hospital, where he was eventually pronounced dead. Drexel University police arrested the suspected gunman.
Philadelphia's Southwest Detective Division's Police Lieutenant John Walker said in an interview with NBC 10 Philadelphia that the shooter did have a permit to carry a gun and that he had not previously been connected to the victim or his girlfriend.
“They definitely didn’t know each other," Walker said. "It just appears to be an argument between the male and the female and, it looks like, he intervenes in that argument and for some reason pulls his gun and fires it three times.”
Drexel senior Heidi Gspurning, who witnessed the scene from her apartment window, noted in an interview with ABC 6 Philadelphia how distraught the girlfriend of the victim was.
“She was screaming. She wouldn't let go of him,” Gspurning said.
According to the Patch, the shooter was charged with charged with possession of an instrument of crime, recklessly endangering another person, and murder. He was denied bail at a preliminary arraignment on Thursday morning. His first preliminary hearing is slated for Dec. 20.
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