Police Search For Gunman After Mantua Store Owner Is Shot
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — Philadelphia Police are investigating a shooting in the Ma
ntua section of the city that injured a 48-year-old grocery store owner.
The victim is in critical condition at Penn Presbyterian Medical Center, investigators say, after at least one person shot her once in the neck and once in the back.
Authorities and medics rushed to Freddy Grocery on the 3400 block of Fairmount Avenue just after 8:30 p.m. Friday night thirty minutes before the store had been set to close for the evening.
Police say a neighbor called 911 after walking into the store to buy cigarettes and saw the store owner holding her neck, bleeding and unable to talk.
Sandi Smith, a former paramedic, lives next to the store.
She says she was bringing her dogs back inside when she heard someone yell for help.
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"My poor dog -- I threw my dog in the house and ran into the store," she said. "There was this pool of blood on [the store owner's] chest."
Smith says she had likely just missed seeing the shooter and quickly jumped into action until paramedics arrived.
"Until they pulled me off of her and applied direct pressure, I wasn't moving from her side," she added. "She is selfless. If whoever needed something so badly all they had to do was ask her but to do something like this - it's ugly, it's ignorant, it's unnecessary."
The motive may be robbery, as investigators found the cash register open, according to Lt. John Walker of Southwest Detectives.
Police are reviewing surveillance video from the store.
So far, no arrests have been made and no gun recovered. If you have any information related to this crime, call police at 215-686-TIPS.
