This story is developing and will continue to be updated.
Two individuals were arrested on Penn’s campus early Thursday evening after fleeing a vehicle stop by the Philadelphia Police Department.
Penn first issued a UPennAlert at 5:05 p.m. warning of “SHOTS FIRED” at 39th and Walnut streets, though police later determined that no shots were fired. A subsequent update to the Division of Public Safety website said multiple individuals were in custody, and a UPennAlert at 5:35 p.m. declared, “All clear.”
The Daily Pennsylvanian observed an individual being apprehended on campus around 5:16 p.m. near 39th Street and Locust Walk. After the individual was apprehended, police officers escorted them into a Philadelphia Police car.
Vice President for Public Safety Kathleen Shields Anderson told the DP that no shots were fired on campus this evening.
“While initial reports stated gun shots had been fired, upon investigation it was determined no shots had been fired,” an updated UPennAlert on the DPS website reads.
Before the incident occurred, Philadelphia Police officers were conducting an investigation of a vehicle on Walnut Street, Anderson said. She added that the driver of the vehicle then “began driving erratically” along Walnut Street, swerving into the bike lane and knocking down the delineators designed to block cars from entering that area of the road, producing noises that “sounded like gunshots."
“Neither suspect was armed. This was an investigation into the vehicle they were driving,” Anderson told the DP. One suspect was apprehended on Sansom Street near the Tangen Center, while the other was taken into custody near Perry World House, she said.
The updated alert added that “officers believed they heard the sound” of gunshots, prompting the initial UPennAlert reporting that shots were fired. Anderson confirmed to the DP that the sounds witnesses perceived as gunshots were the speeding car running over the lane delineators. Some witnesses told The Daily Pennsylvanian that they heard gunfire in the vicinity of 39th and Walnut streets.
According to the Division of Public Safety, police were on scene at the site of the incident, and community members were being asked to use caution and avoid the immediate area. Many police cars were also present on 40th Street, on campus, and in the vicinity of where the UPennAlert was issued.
After the incident, some Penn Police officers in the vicinity apparently told passersby that the incident was a "carjacking," rather than an incident of gunfire. The DP is working to confirm more information about the incident.
College juniors Anya Draves and Jackson Owen told the DP that they were in front of the Radian when they witnessed a car — closely chased by police — drive by Du Bois College House. They said that they then heard gunshots before the car swerved into an alleyway next to Gutmann College House and the driver of the car exited the vehicle.
Draves and Owen claimed that the driver ran to the Radian while police followed in pursuit, at one point attempting to tase an individual and missing.
“Thirty seconds later, they said on their radio that ‘they caught this one right here,’” Draves said. “They caught this one, but apparently there were others.”
2022 Wharton graduate Emily Yang said that she was sitting at a table outside 1920 Commons when she saw several police officers walk by, asking witnesses “where the guy went.” Yang said that the officers came back with an individual in handcuffs after searching for approximately two minutes. She added that she saw a taser probe “hanging out of his cheek.”
Wharton senior Allie Jiang told the DP she was standing outside Panera Bread at 40th and Walnut streets with friends when she said between eight and 10 police cars “shot down the street,” blocking off Walnut Street. She added that she believes she heard gunshots.
After the police cars cleared the street, Jiang saw an individual who appeared to be one of the individuals sought by police running in the direction of Smokey Joe's.
“It was really, really scary,” Jiang said. “I realized if I walked one more block forward I would’ve been in the altercation. I’m a little bit rattled, and I think the entire campus is too.”
Staff reporter Theo Greenfield contributed reporting to this article.
Editor’s note: The photo attached to this story has been updated after additional reporting. This story is developing and will continue to be updated.
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