A South Philly man who police say shot two people during a multicounty crime spree will face a judge

A South Philadelphia man who prosecutors say went on a two-day crime spree that spanned three counties and left two people shot was held over for trial after his preliminary hearing Wednesday.

Zahkee Austin, 23, faces charges of attempted murder, aggravated assault, robbery, gun crimes and related offenses after investigators say he carjacked a driver in Philadelphia at gunpoint and then drove the stolen vehicle around the suburbs, committing acts of violence along the way.

The most serious of those offenses came in the early morning hours of Dec. 5, when police say he forced his way into a home in the Franklin Station subdivision in Middletown Township, Delaware County, and held a gun to John Byrd’s forehead.

Austin’s motive for the shooting remained unclear. There was no indication he knew Byrd or his family.

Byrd testified Wednesday that Austin, wearing a ski mask, demanded money. The 72-year-old complied, and Austin forced him to the home’s third floor, where his wife was sleeping. There, Byrd said, Austin turned the handgun toward Byrd’s wife and told her to give him her jewelry.

In an effort to save his wife, Byrd said he wrestled with Austin, who shot him in the face at point-blank range. Byrd’s sister-in-law, sleeping in a nearby bedroom, went to investigate the noise and was shot in the thigh, investigators said Wednesday.

Austin fled the scene with a jewelry box, police said, but officers caught up with him soon after.

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State police detectives received information that the Chevrolet Malibu Austin had driven to Byrd’s home had been stolen hours earlier in a carjacking in Hunting Park. Video surveillance footage played in court showed Austin approaching the driver, forcing him out of the car at gunpoint and speeding away.

After the shooting in Middletown Township, the car was later spotted 11 miles away from the Byrds’ home, in West Goshen Township, when Austin drove it to an Exxon gas station. There, Austin again brandished his gun and forced the station’s clerk to take $3,000 out of the store’s cash register.

Austin targeted one more victim, driving to a convenience store on Ogontz Avenue in North Philadelphia, according to police. There, he tried to hold the clerk up at gunpoint, but the clerk pulled out a gun of his own and fired at Austin.

Austin fled the scene, uninjured, but left behind the stolen Malibu. The jewelry box stolen from the Byrds’ home was still inside.

Philadelphia Police took Austin into custody the next day, after media reports about his alleged crimes spread. His mother, after hearing the news, turned him in, according to prosecutors. In a statement to police after his arrest, Austin said he threw the gun he used in the robberies and shooting into a river after fleeing the convenience store in North Philadelphia.

Austin’s attorney, Kevin Horan, declined to comment after Wednesday’s preliminary hearing.

Austin made a brief, impromptu statement to Byrd and his family as he was being escorted out of the courtroom.

“I apologize to the family,” he said to them, with a smirk.