3 people shot in Olney, including a bus driver taking 12 riders to an adult center
The bus driver was taking older passengers to a care facility when he was struck by stray gunfire, police say
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Three men, including a bus driver taking older passengers to a care facility, were shot in Olney on Thursday morning.
Police were executing a search warrant on the 400 block of West Ashdale Street just before 9 a.m. when unrelated gunfire erupted two blocks away, according to D F Pace, an inspector for the Philadelphia Police Department.
Officers arrived to find one man shot in the head, bleeding heavily, in an alleyway at the 200 block of West Ashdale, Pace said. Police were unclear about what led to the shooting.
A second man, the driver of a privately owned bus with 12 older passengers, was struck by stray gunfire that came through the vehicle’s front window as it passed through the area, according to Pace.
The first victim, a 32-year-old man, was shot once in the head and was listed in extremely critical condition.
The bus driver was taken to Temple University Hospital and was in stable condition.
The third victim, a man police believe is connected to the shooting, walked into Temple University Hospital with gunshot injuries, according to Pace. He was listed in stable condition.
Pace said that the van was owned by an adult day-care center that caters primarily to the Asian community and that the driver had been taking older riders to a nearby facility when the gunfire rang out.
At least 15 shots were fired, according to Pace.
Despite his injuries, the driver continued to drive the van until stopping at Ninth Street and Roosevelt Boulevard, Pace said. Based on the bullet trajectory and preliminary information, Pace believed the man had been shot in the upper body.
Shattered glass littered the street surrounding the nondescript white van, which had its driver’s side window blown out from the gunfire. Police roped off the vehicle with yellow tape as cars rushed past along the busy thoroughfare.
“It’s always disconcerting when you have a situation like this,” Pace said. “We have a bus driver transporting members of the elderly community to a place where they can continue to get care, and this sort of thing happens. It’s certainly intolerable, and we are going to be dedicating all resources possible to identifying who is responsible.”