Motive in killing of a father of two from Lebanon, found shot in South Philly, remains unclear, police said
Assem Hijazi was found in his BMW, shot in the back of the head, on Ritner Street in South Philadelphia Sunday.
A 55-year-old man found shot in the back of the head inside his car in South Philadelphia over the weekend was a married father of two — the victim of a crime that investigators say so far has no clear motive.
Assem Hijazi was found slumped over in the driver’s seat of his 2019 BMW X6, parked near the I-95 overpass at 20 W. Ritner St., on Sunday afternoon. Philadelphia police responded to the scene, in a commercial section of the city near Front Street, and discovered Hijazi with one gunshot to his head, officials said. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
Deputy Police Commissioner Frank Vanore said investigators have “good direction” in the case and have recovered surveillance video of the shooting. Vanore said investigators believe the gunman was in the car with Hijazi, sitting in the back seat, before he shot him and fled. The gunman may have taken the single fired cartridge casing with him, as none was recovered inside the vehicle, he said.
He declined to discuss specific evidence recovered at the scene and said the motive remains under investigation. Hijazi, he said, had no record of arrests.
Hijazi, who lived on the 1100 block of McKean Street with his wife and two young sons, moved to Philadelphia from Lebanon more than 30 years ago, and settled with relatives in South Philly. His brother, Mohamad, said Hijazi was the youngest of eight siblings. He had worked as a hairdresser in a Center City salon for some time before suffering a shoulder injury that required multiple surgeries and caused him to go on disability.
He was a caring father who enjoyed taking his kids on trips around the area — apple picking in Lancaster, football camps at the Eagles practice facility, and visits to the Atlantic City beach almost every weekend in the summer, his brother said.
Other relatives declined to speak, asking for privacy as they grapple with the sudden loss.
“It is very devastating and we are just shocked,” Mohamad Hijazi said.
Hijazi’s killing comes as shootings across Philadelphia are at historic lows. So far this year, just 35 people have been killed in homicides. That’s a pace that would put the city at fewer than 200 homicides for the year — a total the city has not seen in nearly six decades.
The decline is particularly striking considering the rate of violence the city experienced just three years ago, when, amid the same time frame, more than twice as many people had been killed.
Staff writer Ryan W. Briggs contributed to this article.