PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Philadelphia police are looking to identify a man wanted in connection with a shooting aboard a SEPTA bus that left three women hurt Tuesday afternoon.
According to police, the shooting happened on a SEPTA Route G bus around 4:30 p.m. near 57th Street and Larchwood Avenue in West Philadelphia's Cobbs Creek section.
Responding officers found a 29-year-old woman with a gunshot wound to the hip, a 56-year-old woman with a wound to the back, and a 60-year-old woman with a graze wound to the head, said Chief Inspector Scott Small. All three were taken to Penn Presbyterian Hospital, where they are in stable condition.
According to witnesses and the bus operator, three young men, possibly juveniles, got on the bus in South Philadelphia on Oregon Avenue and did not pay the fare, said Small. They argued with the driver before walking to the back of the bus.
The three young men exited the bus at 57th and Catherine streets, where one of them pulled a semi-automatic handgun and fired four shots into the bus from the outside, hitting the three women inside, Small said. The shooter and his two companions then fled on foot.
"We found four spent shell casings at 57th and Catherine, and we found four bullet holes in the passenger side of the bus," Small said.
"According to the bus driver, the SEPTA bus was full to capacity with over 50 passengers."
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After the bus stopped at 57th and Larchwood streets, a couple blocks from the shooting scene, all passengers except the three wounded women exited the bus and fled.
No arrests have been made. Police say one of the suspects, pictured above, has shoulder-length dreadlocks and a light beard. He was last seen wearing a black Under Armour zip-up jacket over a white t-shirt, black pants, gray sneakers, and a blue surgical mask. Anyone with information is urged to call the police's tip line at 215-686-TIPS.
This is the second shooting involving a SEPTA bus in the last four days. On Friday, a 17-year-old was shot aboard a SEPTA bus near North 3rd Street and West Allegheny Avenue.
SEPTA General Manager Leslie Richards says of two dozen shootings and violent incidents on SEPTA in the last year, arrests have been made in each one.
Overall, Richards says violent crime on the transit system is down sharply. There was a 37% drop in serious crimes in the first half of 2024, and she says SEPTA plans to add 40 transit police to its force this year.