Philadelphia man charged in fatal 2018 road rage shooting in Montgomery County

A 38-year-old Philadelphia man has been charged with the fatal shooting of a 29-year-old man in a 2018 road rage incident in Montgomery County that went cold for years, until the gun allegedly used emerged in a 2024 shooting in Delaware County.

Jihad Henderson has been charged with first-degree murder and related crimes in the death of Rithina Torn, also from Philadelphia.

“A recent ballistics match between a gun used in a 2024 near-fatal shooting in Delaware County was the same gun used to murder Rithina Torn in 2018 and the same man was holding that gun,” said Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin Steele.

Montgomery County prosecutors say Cheltenham Police found Torn lying at the intersection of Dewey Road and Front Street with multiple gunshot wounds at about 9:30 p.m. on Oct. 15, 2018.

Through witnesses and video surveillance, local police and Montgomery County Detectives learned that a dark sedan had been driving the wrong way when it nearly hit a Honda Civic in which Torn was a passenger.

Police said Torn got out of the Honda and walked toward the driver’s side of the sedan while stopped at a traffic light. The driver of that car then shot Torn and fled the scene.

Despite the witness statements, footage of the vehicle released to the public, and a $10,000 reward offered by the Delaware County District Attorney’s Office, no suspect emerged until 2024.

That November, the Montgomery County Detective Bureau learned a cartridge casing found at the scene of an Oct. 13, 2024, shooting in a parking lot behind a Springfield Township Target could have come from the same .40 caliber handgun used in the Torn slaying. Henderson was the registered owner of the vehicle that police said fled the scene.

Ballistics experts would confirm the bullets from both crimes came from the same gun, which prosecutors say Henderson legally owned. During his trial in the 2024 shooting, Henderson testified to having the Glock in question since 2017, and had not lent it to anyone.

Henderson was charged in the Delco shooting in 2024 and convicted in April of aggravated assault and related crimes. He is slated to be sentenced for those crimes on June 29.

He remains in Delaware County Prison as he awaits arraignment for the charges in connection with the 2018 road-rage incident.

Delaware County District Attorney Tanner Rouse called the arrest in the Torn case “a testament to the power of inter-agency cooperation.”