Woman, 22, killed by hit-and-run driver at Kensington homeless camp

A 22-year-old woman at a homeless encampment was killed by a hit-and-run driver fleeing the scene of another accident Monday night in the city's Kensington section, police said.

The woman, identified Tuesday as Rhiannon Broderick, of the 2900 block of Kensington Avenue, was on a mattress at the encampment along Cambria Street at Kensington Avenue about 8:35 p.m. when she was hit by a minivan that jumped the curb, said Chief Inspector Scott Small.

The minivan had been heading south on Kensington when it rear-ended another vehicle that had stopped on the street, Small said. The driver of the minivan, a woman, was trying to flee that accident when she hit the victim.

Broderick suffered severe head trauma and medics took her to Temple University Hospital, where she was pronounced dead at 9:12 p.m.

A 27-year-old man who had been on the mattress with Broderick also was taken to Temple to be treated for minor injuries, Small said. None of the other people at the encampment were hit.

The driver of the vehicle that was hit in the original fender bender followed the minivan to the 2800 block of Coral Street, where the suspect driver got out and left on foot.

Small said the minivan was registered to a resident on the block and that police had a good idea about the driver's identity.

The mattress where the woman was lying was among several other mattresses and small tents on the 1800 block of Cambria Street where people who are homeless often spend the night, Small said.