Schools locked down, man critical after Kmart shooting in Northeast

Inquirer staff writer Jennifer Lin reports:

An argument between a man and his girlfriend at a Kmart store at 8800 Frankford Avenue today left a 35-year-old store worker in critical condition with three gunshot wounds.

Police issued an arrest warrant for Anthony Birch, 30. Birch fled the scene after arguing with the unidentified woman, another Kmart employee.

The victim was trying to intervene in the argument, which occurred around the store’s loading dock, police said.

The argument occurred around 9:45 a.m. at the Kmart in Northeast Philadelphia.

Police requested that four schools in the area be placed under a lockdown, including Olney Elementary, where Birch reportedly has a child.

The other schools were Father Judge High School, St. Dominic School and Thomas Holme Elementary.

The victim, who was not involved in the dispute, was shot in the head, arm and chest, and taken to Frankford Torresdale Hospital. Police did not release his name.

A Kmart employee said the store was declining to speak about the incident.

Read more breaking news in our From The Source blog.

Posted by Inquirer Online Desk @ 11:20 AM Permalink | 11 comments

Comments

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0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 11:31 AM, 12/02/2008

Northeast Philly is becoming more and more like North Philly every day. People just walk around K-Mart with loaded guns now? I'll make sure to never go in there again

— NEPHILLY215

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 12:01 PM, 12/02/2008

where do all of you live?

— mokey1057

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 12:34 PM, 12/02/2008

what you do not understand is that is right at what has been the scourge of an otherwise great neighborhood for years and years there - The Lidenfield Project. not surprised at all.

— gobirds556

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0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 1:17 PM, 12/02/2008

Wow..Did I miss something? Where did it specify the race of the shooter?

— mat719

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 1:37 PM, 12/02/2008

The moral of the story is that men are ticking time bombs, and only women should be armed ;)

— MBW

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0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 2:27 PM, 12/02/2008

sorry stew11 but usually when the suspect is black the media immediately id's them. but in the case of the 'trash' that just killed the cop and the x-way shooter their id didn't occur right away. so in this case since if it wasn't specified in the article i suspect that he's probably white. which explains why you and these other chuckle heads think most of the shootings in philly are done by blacks. because crimes by these white thugs is un/underreported. especially the baseball beatings that are given out routinely in the ne like the one that killed the pollack kid

— phillyfansrdumb