Skip to content
News
Link copied to clipboard

Police seek suspect in Philadelphia gun range robberies

Philadelphia police are asking for help finding a suspect in two armed robberies this month outside gun ranges in the city.

Police say 27-year-old Jeffrey Chandler is wanted in a June 11 robbery outside Yury's Gun Range, located at 544 N. Percy St. in North Philadelphia, and a June 12 robbery at the Delaware Valley Sports Center gun shop and shooting range at 101 Geiger Rd. in Bustleton.

In the first incident, police allege, Chandler and 21-year-old Samiyyah Poteat held up a 68-year-old man who was getting into his car outside the gun range.

Chandler pointed a handgun in the man's face and took the victim's backpack, which contained two .22-caliber handguns, police said.

Poteat took items from the victim's pockets, police said. The two then fled in a dark-colored, two-door vehicle and were last seen driving north on Percy Street and then west on Green Street.

Then, the next day, the two approached a 68-year-old man outside the Delaware Valley Sports Center as he placed a duffel bag that contained seven handguns in the bed of his pickup truck. The woman pointed a handgun at the victim's face and demanded money and his cell phone.

The robbers took the bag of guns, and a 67-year-old man, who was standing on the other side of the vehicle, was shot during the incident. The gunshot hit the man's femoral artery and he is now hospitalized in critical but stable condition, police said.

The pair fled in a black sedan.

Poteat was arrested on June 13 and is facing charges of aggravated assault, robbery and other offenses in connection with the two robberies.

Chandler is described as black, 5 feet 10 inches tall and 200 pounds. He has multiple tattoos on both arms, including the word "Stretch" on his right hand. He is known to spend time near the 4900 block of Walnut Street and in Willingboro, N.J., police said.

Anyone with information is asked to call police at 215-686-8477 (TIPS). Tipsters can also send a text message to 773847 (PPDTIP).