A woman charged with carjacking a cab driver Tuesday night in the city's Crescentville section has been identified as Toni Williams of Olney.
Williams, 30, of Montour Street near Garland Street, was arrested in Abington when officers stopped her in a 2010 Chrysler 300 reported stolen around 7 p.m. The driver told police he went to pick up a fare at McDonald's on Adams Avenue near Howell Street when a woman got into the vehicle and put a knife to his throat, demanding the car. The driver grabbed the knife and pulled it away from Williams, who then pulled a handgun, police said. The driver got out of the vehicle and called police.
Using the vehicle's GPS, police were able to track the car to Huntingdon Pike in Abington. Williams was arrested there without altercation. Police said they recovered a bloody, 12-inch knife on the front seat of the vehicle, but did not recover the gun.
This post has been updated.
Police have identified the cab driver who was shot to death early this morning as Hafiz Salman Sarfaraz of Upper Darby.
Sarfaraz, 33, was reportedly flagged down on Walnut Street near Cobbs Creek Parkway around 12:30 a.m. by someone who attempted to rob him, then shot him several times in the torso and left arm. Police said Sarfaraz, a driver for All City Taxi, crashed into a building on the north sidewalk. When police arrived at the scene, they found him in the driver’s seat bleeding from gunshot wounds.
Bail was set at $1.1 million for a Bucks County man accused of stealing dozens of contractors' work vans and tools during a seven-month crime wave.
David Zagami, 38, of Croydon, Bucks County, is charged with 56 counts of thefts, receiving stolen property, criminal mischief, conspiracy and related offenses. Between July 2012 and January 2013, prosecutors said Zagami stole 31 Ford Econoline and Chevrolet Express contractor vans for the tools inside. He is also accused of stealing tools from inside another 19 vans and from inside several buildings.
Prosecutors said Zagami, also known as David Keefe, made approximately $400 to $600 from selling the contents in each vehicle. Once the tools were taken, prosecutors said the vehicles were abandoned in the same area in Croydon. The locks and ignitions in all of the vehicles were damaged, authorities said.
Less than six months after launching a brand-new city mapping system that overlays police-department data with other city data, a team of city analysts has won a national award for innovation.
The team, made up of staffers from the Philadelphia Police Department and the Managing Director’s Office, learned last week that it was selected for a Special Achievement in GIS [Geographic Information Systems] award given annually by international GIS firm Esri.
The city’s team was selected for the award by Esri staff, and is one of less than 100 nominees of more than 100,000 that won.
A 30-year-old woman has been arrested for allegedly carjacking a man at knife-point and gunpoint in Crescentville, police said.
Police said the incident happened around 7 p.m. on Adams Avenue near Tabor Road. A 40-year-old man operating an unmarked limousine reported that he went to pick up a fare at the address when a woman got into the backseat of the car and allegedly pulled a knife and put it to his throat, demanding the car.
The driver told police he grabbed the knife with both hands and struggled with the suspect, who then let go of the knife and pulled out a handgun. The driver got out of the car and called police as the suspect drove away.
Police have identified the man shot and killed late Monday night on a South Philadelphia street.
Jamahal Miller, 21, was on 5th Street near Wharton around 10:45 p.m. when someone shot him 13 times, police spokeswoman Officer Tanya Little said.
Miller, who lived on 29th Street near Wharton in Grays Ferry, was taken to Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, where he was pronounced dead a short time later.
An East Germantown man has been charged with throwing a mysterious liquid device at a state lawmaker's campaign office and planting another one at a recreation center, police said.
Bryan Malachi, 20, of East Mayland Street near Washington Lane, is charged with simple assault, possessing instruments of crime and recklessly endangering another person.
Police said Malachi threw a device at the campaign office of state Rep. Dwight Evans, located on Limekiln Pike near Walnut Lane, on Monday afternoon. Evans was not in the office at the time and no one was injured.
A West Chester man with seven prior drunk-driving arrests was drunk and driving with a suspended license when he fatally hit a motorcyclist in April, Chester County District Attorney Thomas P. Hogan said.
Robert Elwood Landis, 49, of Concord Road near Oakbourne, now is charged with homicide by vehicle, driving under the influence and related offenses for killing Liam Crowley, 24, on April 26 in Westtown Township, Hogan said.
Landis was driving a 2004 Dodge Ram pickup truck south on Wilmington Pike when he turned into traffic at Stanton Avenue and hit Crowley, Hogan said. He claimed he only had "a couple of beers," but police found "numerous" empty and full beer cans in his truck and tests showed his blood-alcohol level at 0.28 percent - more than three times the legal limit in Pennsylvania, Hogan said. Crowley died at Paoli Hospital two days later.
Police are seeking suspects in an overnight shooting in South Philadelphia that left a teenager dead.
The 18-year-old victim, whose name wasn't released, was on the steps of a home on Fifth Street near Wharton at 10:45 p.m., when someone shot him in the arms, legs and stomach, said Officer Tanya Little, a police spokeswoman. He died within a half hour at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital.
Police reported no motive, arrests or suspects. Tipsters can call homicide detectives at (215) 686-3334 or -3335.
This post has been updated.
Police arrested a Manhattan teen this morning on murder charges after he allegedly gunned down three men in West Philadelphia just before Christmas.
Marco Joaquin, 18, was charged with two counts of murder in the Dec. 22 deaths of Anthony Fletcher, 33, and Dwayne Page, 29, of Reedland Street near 65th in Southwest Philadelphia, said Officer Tanya Little, a police spokeswoman. Joaquin had been listed as one of the Police Department's "most-wanted fugitives."
