Surveillance video shows suspects wanted in shooting of Germantown block captain during catalytic converter theft
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Some good news about the Germantown block captain who was shot when he confronted four men trying to steal a catalytic converter. He is out of the hospital and home.
Detectives hope someone will recognize the four people seen in the surveillance video and give them the lead they need.
Police say the block captain was finally released from a six-day hospital stay on Tuesday.
Detectives now need help identifying the four suspects, including the gunman and another suspect seen wearing a Halloween mask.
Video shows a gunman and a second suspect run down the 6300 block of Germantown Avenue in Germantown in the early morning of Wednesday, Aug. 17.
Police say they along with two others riding in a grey sedan are the same group captured on camera during the theft of a catalytic converter moments before on the 100 block of Pomona Street.
Officers say as the thieves used a cutting tool, a 52-year-old block captain heard the noise and went to confront the thieves. But as they ran from the scene, one suspect fired a gun at the block captain.
"Extremely lucky [to be alive]. You got a clear shot from a distance that hits him in the chest," Philadelphia Police Capt. John Walker said.
Walker wants people to take a close look at the suspects and help identify them.
"The weight that they have, the body structures, that's what we want people to concentrate on. We don't have good shots of their faces at this point," Walker said.
Walker also points out one suspect was covering his face with a Halloween mask.
"Somebody knows who has that mask. And you just need to do the right thing," he said.
Neighbors and business owners hope so too.
"It was really scary when I watched the video to know that something so close, something so dramatic and devastating was so close to the business," said Veonda Gardner with Gardner Realty.
"To know that happened right across the street it's kind of disturbing and sad," Lashonda Tyson Oliver said.
Police believe that Halloween mask could be a key to solving this case.
