Man slain outside daycare, gunman nabbed

A gunman ambushed a father outside a daycare on a busy Cedarbrook commercial strip this morning and shot him dead just after the man's girlfriend took their preschooler inside.

The victim, a man in his early 20s whose name police haven't yet released, died about 9:15 a.m. at Albert Einstein Medical Center, about a half hour after the shooting outside the Agape Christian Childcare & Development Center on Wadsworth Avenue near Cedarbrook.

The gunman fled on foot, but police apprehended him several blocks away. His name hasn't yet been released.

A nurse who drove by seconds after the shooting stopped to try to save the gunshot victim. When she approached the bullet-riddled aqua sedan, she said, the man's girlfriend was inside cradling his body and sobbing hysterically, she said.

Investigators have not determined the gunman's motive.

UPDATE, 2:50 p.m.: Homicide investigators have released a man they took into custody this morning as the suspected killer, saying he was not involved in this slaying. They now have no suspects nor motive. They urged witnesses or anyone who knows anything about this incident to call homicide detectives at (215) 686-3334 or -3335.

UPDATE, 3:25 p.m.: Police have just released the victim's name: Epharant Epperson, 25, of Oreland, Montgomery County. A passer-by at the crime scene who asked to remain anonymous said Epperson was known as "E" and had done odd jobs, such as moving furniture, in the area.