Crooks in Philadelphia apparently aren’t paying attention to the news.
Because yet another lawbreaker — who likely figured it would be easy pickings to scare a motorist into handing over car keys — just got the tables turned on him.
What are the details?
Police said a 39-year-old pizza delivery driver was in the 3300 block of H Street in the Kensington neighborhood just after 7:30 p.m. Thursday when an armed carjacker approached him, WXTF-TV reported.
Then the suspect allegedly pointed a gun at the delivery driver and demanded his car, police told the station.
But the driver wasn’t about to become a victim — and had a different kind of delivery up his sleeve.
Because at that moment the driver pulled out his own gun and fired multiple rounds at the suspected carjacker, authorities told WXTF. According to WPVI-TV, the driver hit the suspect six times.
Philadelphia Police Inspector DF Pace added to WPVI that the suspect returned fire, but the driver wasn’t injured.
What happened next?
The 23-year-old suspect was taken to a hospital by a private vehicle and placed in extremely critical condition, WPVI said. Police added to WXTF that he was being held as a prisoner.
Two people who were with the suspect also were being held and questioned, WPVI said.
The driver had a permit to carry a concealed firearm, police told the Philadelphia Inquirer.
Increase in Philly carjackings — and drivers fighting back
The first month of 2022 has seen a surge in Philadelphia carjackings, as well as a noticeable pattern of some drivers successfully fighting back:
- On Jan. 3 a Lyft driver — licensed to carry a gun — opened fire on a couple of would-be carjackers, shooting and wounding them both. Police caught the two crooks and got them to a hospital. The Lyft driver was unharmed.
- On Jan. 10 another driver fired several times through his window when an armed suspect approached him in what police believe was yet another carjacking attempt. WXTF said the 18-year-old suspect was shot several times and was later charged in the incident.
- And on Jan. 13, a motorist licensed to carry a concealed firearm turned the tables on a 16-year-old carjacker, critically wounding the young crook in a shootout. Oliver Neal, 60, told WPVI the carjacker pointed a gun six inches from his face. “He said ‘give me the keys.’ By then I had my hand on my weapon and saw him tighten his grip and I knew I had to shoot,” Neal noted to the station. “I think he shot first, but I don’t know. All I know is we went back and forth. I started shooting, and next thing I know, he hops across the street, drops to the ground… I just kept shooting.”
There already have been more than 90 carjackings so far in the city this year, WPVI said, adding that in 2021 there were more than 750.