Man chased by 6 attackers, shot to death in quiet Upper Darby neighborhood: police
UPPER DARBY, Pa. - Upper Darby police say a 22-year-old Philadelphia man was chased and eventually shot to death in town overnight in a community of long-time residents.
The people living in the collection of homes around Upper Darby’s Penarth and South Keystone Avenues have spent their lives here.
The quiet of the community was pierced in the early morning Wednesday.
Police say the shooting happened on the 7100 block of Penarth Avenue around 6:25 a.m.
Caution tape and several evidence markers covered the home as the medical examiner arrived at the scene.
Glenn Heym has lived in Upper Darby every day of his 75 years of life.
Police investigating shooting in quiet Upper Darby neighborhood: 'We don't live that way here'
Residents are on high alert after gunfire erupted in a typically peaceful neighborhood in Upper Darby early Wednesday morning.
In front of his home Wednesday afternoon he said, "I was sleeping, and I heard this pop, pop, bang, bang, and I thought fireworks, but I thought fireworks my foot, that’s gunshots."
Repeated gun shots echoed in the dark as police say 22-year-old Jamie Reed of Philadelphia was chased along Penarth by six attackers, some spraying gunfire.
He dropped and died on the patio of an 88-year-old homeowner.
Superintendent Timothy Bernhardt, who heads Upper Darby police, told reporters gathered in Upper Darby that, "we believe that was the scenario. They were lying in wait for him. Something got him out of the building there and that’s when they approached."
A bullet struck a silver sedan near the home where Reed died, and just around the corner one tore through a grill and struck a window frame and wall.
Standing on the porch of the home he shares with his daughter, Edward Robinson said, "it’s just crazy and I’m glad I wasn’t sitting there." He believes he wouldn’t be alive if he had.
None of the residents were injured.
Investigators believe the attack was sparked by a dispute in Philadelphia which spilled into neighboring Upper Darby.
Police are scouring for video to ID the shooters while a resident feels something’s been lost in her lifelong community.
Asking FOX 29 to withhold her name for safety, she said, "it’s quiet, we have the eggs and flat tires but nothing like this in my whole life, nothing like this."