Longtime neighbor feud leads to double murder-suicide, police say
WEST OAK LANE - A dispute between neighbors led to a tragic outcome when one man opened fire on his next-door neighbors and then turned the gun on himself, officials say.
Police say the horrific tragedy occurred on the 7300 block of East Walnut Lane Wednesday afternoon, around 4 p.m.
Witnesses and neighbors told police a male and female, in their 70s, lived in a home next to the man accused of shooting them and himself. Philadelphia Police Chief Inspector Scott Small said neighbors relayed the trio had a longtime feud, which boiled over into Wednesday's triple shooting.
The couple had just parked their car from a trip to the store and they were approaching the shared steps to their front door when they were shot.
Neighbor Daeshanae Diego witnessed the autumn afternoon on Walnut Lane suddenly turn from tranquil to terrifying, hearing gunshots just before 4 p.m. then looking to see her neighbor across the street with a gun shoot and kill the couple right next door to him as the couple, 77 and 76-years-old, came home with groceries and walk up their front steps.
"He went in the house, came back out the house. He shot the lady on the ground, again. Then he shot the man three times. Then he looked across the street at my brother," Diego recalled.
And, then she watched in horror as he shot and killed himself. She then ran over to try and help the woman shot who was still alive. "We came outside and she was on the ground and she was still breathing. We ran over there and I took off my hoodie to start trying to put pressure on the wound and she was just gurgling and we just kept saying, ‘Stay with us. As I was applying pressure to her, the niece came with somebody else and had an emotional breakdown. And, I was trying to calm her down. And, the cops came and lifted the lady up and just threw her in the back of the cop car."
Those first police rushed the woman to Einstein Medical Center hoping to save her life. The woman was rushed to Einstein Medical Center where she died.
The two men died at the scene.
Philadelphia Police Chief Inspector Scott Small described the scene, saying, "The two males, the shooter and the 77-year-old male, are both on the steps."
Once police cleared the scene, what could be seen was that the two homes shared a walkway to their front door and the front steps leading to their homes. Somehow, police say the shared walkway, common on so many Philadelphia rowhomes, and prior arguments turned into one last deadly confrontation.
Chief Inspector Small added, "Neighbors said the shooter and the two victims were involved in some verbal disputes in the past. Unknown if it happened today, but we're getting Information there were disputes in the past."
A semi-automatic weapon was also found at the scene. Police continue to investigate.