Philadelphia Carjackers Crash: Car Kills Three Children, Culprits Still at Large
A carjacking gone wrong has left three children dead and three other people wounded in a Philadelphia neighborhood. The police continue searching for the culprits and have offered a substantial reward for those who help find them.
Friday morning three children alongside their mother and neighbor were selling fruits at a street corner to raise fund for their church when a white Toyota 4Runner crashed into them, according to USA Today.
A little before 11:30 a.m. the car crashed with the two carjackers inside, reports USA Today. Aboard was also the woman whose car had been stolen; the robbers had forced her unto the back seat. Police believe the two men lost control of the car after blowing out a tire and crashed.
A girl, 15, and two boys, aged 10 and 7, all perished, USA Today explains. The children's mother, their 65-year-old neighbor and the 45-year-old woman in the car remain in the hospital.
"They're babies, they're kids, they're out there selling fruit with their mother and I believe a neighbor and for the church," said Philadelphia police Lt. John Sanford in a telephone interview Friday night. "They're out there doing a good cause."
The three children, their mother and neighbor arrived at the corner of Germantown and Allegheny Avenues with a fruit cart to raise money, reports the local NBC affiliate, when the SUV crashed. The 10-year-old boy died on the scene and his sister and brother were taken to Temple University Hospital and St. Christopher's Hospital for Children, respectively.
The woman whose car was stolen is a real estate agent who had finished showing a home, according to NBC Philadelphia, when the two men jumped her at gunpoint and went into the car.
The Philadelphia Inquirer notes there is an $110,000 reward for information that leads to an arrest and it has been extended until Monday noon, as the men remain at large. The mayor's office and the Fraternal Order of the Police have given the money.
The men have been only described as a Hispanic man and African American man, both in their 20s, who fled the scene after the crash, according to CBS Philadelphia.
Anyone with information can call the Philadelphia Police Department at 215-686-TIPS (8477) or can message them privately via Facebook.
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