Police identify man killed during attempted carjacking in South Philadelphia
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- A 50-year-old man was shot and killed during an attempted carjacking in South Philadelphia Wednesday night, the Philadelphia Police Department said. He has been identified as Michael Salerno.
Police say he was shot at 12th and Porter.
Salerno was just a few couple blocks from his South Philly home when police say three kids in their early teens and 20 years of age attempted to steal his car. A woman was in the front passenger seat.
Police say one teen had a gun out and pointed at the passenger when Salerno stepped in.
Police said the man's friend was driving a Pontiac sedan, which was double parked in the 1100 block of West Porter Street around 10:45 p.m. when three suspects forced her out of the car at gunpoint and demanded the keys.
"The owner of the vehicle, this 50-year-old who was shot, did show up and intervened with the carjackers," Philadelphia Police Chief Inspector Scott Small said, "and that's when one of the two individuals who committed the carjacking fired the shot and killed the 50-year-old victim."
Brittney Decker said Salerno, a local handyman, was like a stepfather to her. He was her late mother's longtime boyfriend.
"It's kind of crazy something like this would happen to someone like him," she said. "But then again, it happened so close to home, you never think it's going to be you until it is."
Police say Salerno was shot once. He died right there in the street. Investigators recovered a single shell casing.
"We need the public's help in locating and identifying these offenders," Lt. Hamilton Marshmond said. "The offenders have been described as three African American males appearing to be in their early teens. All dressed in dark clothing. After shooting Mr. Salerno, the offenders returned to a newer Kia Soul SUV, which is red in color with an out-of-state license plate."
CBS News Philadelphia spoke with one neighbor who was out, getting ready to walk his daughter home from her babysitting job when he heard the shooting.
"No regard for human life. They don't care," neighbor Al Curran said. "They don't have any feeling anymore. It's like, they come into these neighborhoods, they want to carjack you, steal your car. They don't care what they do. They just want to hurt people and take things that don't belong to them."
"Right now, it's a shame that somebody lost their life trying to protect their property, their car," neighbor Mike Vaso said, "because somebody decided they wanted to be slick and try to steal somebody's car."
Police say they do have some good leads that take the car straight over the bridge and are believed to be originated in Camden.