2 children killed in Philly hit-and-run; murder charges planned for alleged driver, police say

Two brothers, ages 7 and 9, were killed early Sunday morning and their parents injured in a hit-and-run accident in North Philadelphia that police say will result in murder and related charges against the alleged driver of the vehicle that struck the family’s.

Police said the accident occurred at 12:42 a.m. when a vehicle traveling north on Kensington Avenue struck the family’s vehicle, which was eastbound on Hunting Park Avenue in the city’s Juniata Park section.

The vehicle on Kensington Avenue left the scene but broke down about 300 feet away, and the driver and a passenger ran off, police said. They were caught a few minutes later at Frankford Avenue and Unity Street. Witnesses at the crash site identified the passenger, and the driver of the vehicle was arrested, police said.

He had not been identified as of late Sunday afternoon, but police said the District Attorney’s Office had approved two counts each of third-degree murder, homicide by vehicle, and involuntary manslaughter, numerous assault charges, and other offenses.

Both boys had been in the back seat and were ejected from their vehicle, police said. The 7-year-old died of head trauma at St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children at 1:50 a.m.; his brother at 2:11 a.m. of blunt force trauma injuries, also at St. Christopher’s, police said.

Their mother, 28, who had been riding in the front seat, was listed in stable condition at Einstein Medical Center with a spinal fracture and facial cuts, police said. The father, 34, who had been driving, also had sustained facial cuts but declined treatment to accompany his sons to the hospital.