Search continues for gunman who shot three people after accident in Kensington

KENSINGTON – Philadelphia police say the search is ongoing for the scooter rider who sped wildly down Allegheny Avenue on Thursday after being knocked into the street by a car.

A piece of police tape hangs from a pole along the 400 block of East Allegheny Avenue – a remnant of Thursday’s collision between a car and a scooter that led to gun violence and injured three people.

Nearby, Janet Follett grills chicken for her street stand. She says she stays highly focused on her work, even as the afternoons get crazier. Follett says, “There are always kids fighting around here. I’m busy with my own stuff. I don’t pay attention to what people are doing. I have my own little business. I see people fighting.”

It’s just before three o’clock on Thursday afternoon and the chaos is captured on video. An SUV and a scooter collide in the middle of the street, knocking the driver to the ground. He gets back on his feet, limps behind a post, pulls out a gun and shoots at the car that hit him.

The bullets struck three innocent victims, including an 8-year-old girl from nearby Elkin Elementary School who was in a car with her father and a longtime, beloved teacher from Cromwell Middle School. Monique Braxton of the Philadelphia School District said, “Two communities are affected here. Students, teachers, their families and their friends.”

Braxton said school superintendent Tony Watlington visited the child and the teacher at Saint Christopher’s and Temple hospitals on Thursday evening. Both are in stable condition.

At Elkin Elementary School on Friday, bicycle police hung out near students during recess while the head of the city’s teachers union criticized inaction on gun reform at the state Capitol. Jerry Jordan wrote, “These three individuals and everyone else affected by the scourge of gun violence deserve better. And it’s past time Harrisburg did something.”