Philadelphia SWAT officers shot and killed a man during a standoff in Northeast Philadelphia

Philadelphia SWAT officers shot and killed a 73-year-old man Wednesday morning after he shot at officers from his car parked outside a car dealership in Rhawnhurst, police said.

Police said the brief standoff began about 5 a.m. after officers went to investigate a report of a car crash. The caller said a man was seated in a crookedly parked tan Dodge pickup truck, with two of its wheels up on the sidewalk outside Gary Barbera’s car dealership on Borbeck Avenue and Roosevelt Boulevard, said Deputy Police Commissioner Frank Vanore.

An officer responded to the call and asked the man whether he needed help, Vanore said. He said no.

Vanore said the officer returned to his patrol car and, as he drove away, he heard gunfire coming from the direction of the truck. It’s not clear at whom or what the man shot, Vanore said, but the officer was not struck, nor was his patrol car.

Surveillance video outside the dealership, obtained by The Inquirer, showed the officer begin to drive away after the brief interaction, then suddenly turn around. The officer then got out of his patrol car and approached the truck with his gun drawn, appearing to tap on the truck’s passenger window. The video, which has no audio, then appeared to show the officer take cover behind a car in the dealership lot, and call for backup.

When SWAT officers arrived, Vanore said, the man shot at police again.

Two SWAT officers returned fire, fatally striking the man in the truck, Vanore said. No officers were injured. Medics arrived on scene and pronounced the man dead shortly before 6 a.m., he said. A revolver was recovered inside the truck, he said. The truck had at least seven bullet holes in the front windshield.

Vanore declined to identify the man Wednesday afternoon, saying only that he was last known to live in Jenkintown.

It’s not clear why the man was armed and seated outside the business, just steps from the sales department entrance so early in the morning. But Vanore said some evidence suggests that he was a disgruntled customer who had an ongoing grievance involving a car from the dealership.

“I don’t know what was playing in his mind, being there with a gun,” Vanore said.

Gary Barbera, who owns the 100-employee dealership and service center, said the man did not buy his car there, but had been into the dealership within the last year.

”He lived around here and something happened [early] in the morning,” Barbera said. “So when we got here, it was like wow.”

Shortly before noon, with the temperature below freezing, a Philadelphia Police Department tow truck came to haul away the bullet hole-ridden truck.

“Sadly, a man died,” Barbera said. “But I do want to thank the police for keeping the area and keeping us all safe.”

Staff writers Chris Palmer and Beatrice Forman contributed to this article.