PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Police have noticed a pattern of crime happening in Northeast Philadelphia involving a group of young men with a white cargo van who violently robbed people in three separate incidents.
Three times this week, early-morning robberies were carried out by a group of men in their late teens or early 20s who were last seen in a white U-Haul cargo van, police say.
“First incident … a female victim was walking down the street. They forced her into the van,” said Inspector Matthew Gillespie, describing an incident from Tuesday, just before 4 a.m., on Academy Road. Police say the young men robbed her at gunpoint and punched her in the face, and then one of the assailants fired a gun at her twice as she got away.
Less than an hour later, police say, a second incident happened at the TD Bank on Roosevelt Boulevard in Oxford Circle. Suspects allegedly blocked a man at the drive-thru ATM and demanded he take out cash. When he was unable to, police say, they stole his car.
In a third incident Thursday morning, police say a man was forced into a white U-Haul cargo van at gunpoint on Delaware Avenue. Suspects drove him to a convenience store, where he took out $300 from an ATM, before forcing him to transfer more money through a banking app.
“These individuals are driving around looking for victims to rob, and it's late at night,” Gillespie said. “And when it's dark out, these are things that we're concerned about.”
Police are asking anyone who sees a similar white U-Haul cargo van driving around, specifically early in the morning, to call 911.