Philadelphia Police: Man Kills Self Inside 18th-Floor Bedroom At Sterling Apartment Homes Following Argument
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Philadelphia police say a man shot and killed himself inside a bedroom apartment on the 18th floor of the Sterling Apartment Homes high-rise building in Center City following an argument. Police say the man also fired a shot out the bedroom window prior to shooting himself.
Officers were called to the scene around 1 p.m. for reports of a person with a gun.
Philadelphia Police Staff Inspector Sekou Kinebrew said a 66-year-old man told officers his roommate was in an argument with another man who may have fired a gun.
When he let police inside, the roommate was gone and the visitor was dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. But before taking his life, the victim fired a separate shot, police say.
"SWAT officers arrived, went into that bedroom and recognized two things: that this male did, in fact, fire one shot -- it looks like out the window -- and also fired a self-inflicted gunshot," Kinebrew said.
Fortunately, the first shot didn't hit anyone. The bullet was recovered in a banister, police say.
No other injuries were reported.
Sterling Apartment Homes told residents in an email that officers were responding to a domestic incident inside a corner apartment of the building.
"I got in the elevator with a police officer. She was a little panicked and said there was someone in the building with a gun," resident Max Detweiler said.
Detweiler was one of the residents who had to leave the Sterling as SWAT got to work on the incident. While he waited outside, Detweiler was texting his roommate on the 21st floor, who was stuck inside during the SWAT response.
"He wasn't doing too badly until everybody started texting him and then is starting to feel a little nervous, but he knows they seem to have everything under control," Detweiler said.
Police have reopened traffic in all directions.
CBS3's Cleve Bryan contributed to this report.
