Search for gunman who shot three people after accident in Kensington continues

KENSINGTON - Philadelphia police say the search goes on for the rider of a scooter who shot wildly along Allegheny Avenue Thursday after being knocked to the street by a vehicle.

Along the 400 block of East Allegheny Avenue, a scrap of police tape hangs on a pole, a remnant of the collision between a vehicle and scooter Thursday, touching off gun violence, wounding three.

Nearby, Janet Follett, grilling chicken for her roadside stand, said she stays laser-focused on her work as the afternoons grow crazy. Follett said, "They always have kids fighting in this area. I’m busy doing my own stuff. I don’t pay attention to what people do. I have my own little business. I see people fighting."

Thursday afternoon just before 3 and the mayhem is captured on camera. An SUV and a scooter collide in the middle of the avenue sending the rider sprawling. He gets to his feet, limps behind a pole, where he pulls out a gun and blasts away at the car that struck him.

The bullets hit three innocent victims, including an 8-year-old girl from the nearby Elkin Elementary School, in a car with her dad, and a longtime beloved teacher at the Cromwell Middle School. Monique Braxton, of the School District of Philadelphia said, "We have two communities impacted here. Students, teachers, their families as well as their friends."

Braxton said Superintendent of Schools Tony Watlington visited both the child and the teacher at Saint Christopher’s and Temple hospitals Thursday night. Both were listed in stable condition.

At Elkin Elementary, Friday, bike cops hovered near students at recess while the head of the city’s teachers’ union criticized inaction on gun reform at the state capitol. Jerry Jordan wrote, "These three individuals, and every individual impacted by the scourge of gun violence, deserve better. And it’s past time Harrisburg take action."