Philadelphia police investigating assault, shooting incident during South Philadelphia car meetup
Philadelphia police are asking for the public's help with identifying three suspects caught on camera repeatedly assaulting a woman during an illegal car meetup in late September.
The assault happened at one of the several illegal car meetups that occurred during the overnight hours of Saturday, Sept. 21 into Sunday, Sept. 22.
According to police, at around 1:40 a.m. Sept. 22, during a meetup on 25th Street and Washington Avenue in South Philadelphia, hundreds of people and vehicles flooded the 2400 block of Washington Avenue and the 1000 block of South 25th Street.
During a press conference Friday afternoon, Inspector Raymond Evers said a 49-year-old woman living in the neighborhood heard the car meetup happening and looked outside to find people standing on top of her car. The woman responded by approaching the rowdy group and telling them to get off of her car, Evers said. A confrontation ensued and the woman was repeatedly assaulted.
The video shows multiple suspects punching the victim and hitting her with traffic drums and cones.
Police say some of the suspects involved in the assault were caught on camera with firearms. One of the suspects pointed his gun at the 49-year-old and then fired his weapon into the air, Evers said. A cartridge casing was found outside on the street after the assault, according to police.
Police described the suspects as two men and a woman. The woman is around 18-23 years old and 5-foot-7, police said. The man who threw the traffic barrel is in his early 20s, around 6 feet tall according to police. The third man who fired a gun is described by police as being in his early 20s and about 5-foot-5.
Evers said the woman sought medical attention the next day and was very frightened. The woman's property was also slightly damaged.
In total, police have investigated 50 cars, taken 32 cars into custody, made 10 arrests across several states and served over 50 search warrants through social media and other means.
"We've locked up promoters. We've locked up people operating drones. We've locked up people actually doing the drifting," Evers said. "We still have 10 cars in custody and if the judge allows us, we'll be crushing those cars."
Anyone who has information related to the assault is asked to call South Detectives at 215-686-3013/3014.
