Philadelphia carjackers ram crowd, killing three, police say

A carjacked vehicle plowed into a crowd of pedestrians in Philadelphia on Friday, killing at least three people and leaving three others seriously injured, a police spokeswoman told the Los Angeles Times.

The incident began when two men carjacked a woman in the northern part of the city sometime after 11 a.m. local time, according to a Philadelphia Police Department news release.

The men drove about two miles to the intersection of Germantown and Allegheny avenues, where they struck a crowd of pedestrians, police said. Two victims, identified only as juveniles, were pronounced dead and several others were taken to an area hospital in critical condition, the police statement said.

Officer Jillian Russell, a department spokeswoman, told The Times a third victim died at St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children at 1:55 p.m.

Russell said the other two victims who died were a juvenile and a teenager. Police have not identified the victims or released their ages, but according to the Philadelphia Inquirer, one of the deceased victims is a 10-year-old boy.

The suspects fled the crash site on foot, authorities said, and police are offering a $40,000 reward for information leading to their capture. Russell said the carjacked vehicle was not being pursued by police at the time of the crash.

Jeremy Walter, a spokesman for Temple Hospital in Philadelphia, told the Los Angeles Times that at least two of the surviving victims from the collision were being treated at the facility.

One was listed in critical condition and one was in good condition, he said.

The crash is the latest in a series of tragedies involving children to befall the city this month. On July 5, four children, all under the age of 4, were killed in a rowhouse fire.

On Thursday, the city’s medical examiner said a 17-year-old girl was one of two women who died of injuries suffered when a food truck exploded in the city earlier this month.

Staff writer Matt Hansen contributed to this report.

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