Masked man accused of pointing assault rifle at SEPTA worker at Fern Rock station, sources say
PHILADELPHIA - After a worker alleged a masked man armed with an assault-style rifle pointed a gun at him Monday morning, fear is increasing among passengers at SEPTA’s Fern Rock Station.
FOX 29’s Steve Keeley gets the emotions of passengers who request the Fern Rock Station.
"There should be more security in this PPA parking lot or SEPTA needs to have more officers too."
Those who use the Fern Rock station Philadelphia Parking Authority lot next to the regional rail train platform have heightened concern after FOX 29 News learned of the incident Monday morning.
According to sources who spoke to FOX 29’s Keeley, this is how a SEPTA employee described the incident: "an AK-47 style weapon pointed at him after 5am. When he saw a group of men in the white SUVs enter the parking lot, he believed they were going to break into cars."
Law enforcement sources provided Keeley with three pictures of the three different white SUVs.
Officers are investigating a connection between the vehicles and the incident.
Sources tell Keeley the SEPTA employee saw three to four males in the vehicles and one male got out of one of the SUVs wearing a gray hooded shirt, black pants and a ski mask when he saw the employee watching them from the pedestrian bridge above the lot and allegedly said "keep it moving...I'll shoot you with this."
The victim said he was close enough to see the gun was wood color with a black muzzle and a black magazine.
Sources tell Keeley the suspect with the gun got back into one of the SUVs as they all left the lot at around 5:14 a.m.
Police say surveillance shows two of the three vehicles entered the lot with their headlights off and only one had its headlights on.
The employee was not injured and the men in the vehicle never entered the station.
Police sources say it's unknown if they tried to break into any cars before the SEPTA worker spotted them and they spotted him. \
Sources say a video analyst working with the Philadelphia Police Department got the best shots of the three vehicles, but the video was not clear enough to get any license plates.
Those using the lot & trains at the same hour in the morning say they already know they have to be on alert here and now even more so.
"My husband drops me off and I catch the 6:25 a.m. train and so it is dark," said Diane Bowman, Fern Rock Station commuter. "So I usually sit in the car with him until the train comes."