Police are investigating the death of a Philadelphia firefighter as homicide
Antonio Rodriguez, 56, was found dead in the Holmesburg section early Wednesday morning.
A Philadelphia firefighter was killed in the city’s Holmesburg section early Wednesday morning, police said.
The 56-year-old man, identified as Antonio Rodriguez, was found dead inside a home on the 4700 block of Shelmire Avenue shortly before 4 a.m. when police responded to a report of a disturbance.
Police said they first encountered a 27-year-old man behind a locked security gate enclosing the front porch.
After the officers gained entry, they found Rodriguez unresponsive with no visible signs of injury, police said. Rodriguez was pronounced dead at the scene.
The younger man allegedly told police at the scene that he had fatally assaulted Rodriguez, whom he identified as his uncle.
Rodriguez was killed possibly by strangulation or another method of physical assault, according to Deputy Police Commissioner Frank Vanore. The medical examiner has not yet determined a cause of death.
The younger man, who was not named, was taken into custody.
“The Philadelphia Fire Department is heartbroken over the death of one of our members overnight. We are working closely with the Philadelphia Police Department as they investigate. We ask that everyone keep the member’s family and our colleagues in your thoughts as we process this tragedy,” the fire department said in a statement.
In a later statement, the department said Rodriguez had been a firefighter for 18 years.
Staff writers Henry Savage, Jesse Bunch, and Robert Moran contributed to this article.