Female store owner wounded in Mantua shooting

MANTUA (WPVI) -- Police are searching for the armed robber who shot and wounded a female store owner in Philadelphia's Mantua neighborhood.

Action News spoke Saturday to two women, Sandy Smith and Brenda Dunbar, both residents of Philadelphia's Mantua neighborhood.

Tonight, they are considered heroes.

Police say Friday night around 8:30 p.m. their neighbor and close friend, the woman who runs Freddy Grocery in Mantua at 34th Street near Fairmount Avenue.was viciously shot by a robber.

The victim was wounded in the neck and arm.

Smith and Dunbar tells us about the terrifying event.

"I hear one of the neighbors run out of the store screaming. She yelled for someone to call 911," Smith said.

"She said mommy is breathing hard, and hanging over the counter," added Dunbar.

The women say mommy is the victim's nickname.

When they ran in to see what was wrong, they couldn't believe what they saw.

They say mommy was barely conscious, but luckily Smith is a medic by profession.

"I asked her did somebody shoot you. She shook her head yes. Anything else, all she could do is moan." Smith said.

"We applied pressure and waited for the ambulance to come," continued Dunbar.

Neither woman could imagine what would possess someone to shoot their friend.

The victim lived in the neighborhood for a very long time and it was her love for this neighborhood that she chose this location for her store.

Smith said, "She didn't deserve that. Mind you nobody does, but her of all people in this neighborhood. The one who will go out of her way, go in her pocket for you, and never ask for a thing back - that's unnecessary."

"Whoever did it didn't know her, because everybody around here knows her," Dunbar added.

Police say the shooter is a black male and was wearing a hoodie at the time.

Everyone in the neighborhood hopes he's caught quickly.

"It has to be a sick person to do that? Yeah yeah, it was a senseless crime," Dunbar said.

"I love her and I'm praying for her. She has to get better that's the only option. She has to get better," added Smith.

Police do not understand why she was shot since it appeared she was cooperating with the suspect's demands.

"From looking at the scene it appears the register was open, but it doesn't appear any money was taken. So again this makes this a totally senseless act where a person going in here early evening hours in a business that's a half hour before closing with a 48-year-old female working by herself, and he has a gun, no need to fire that gun and put this person in this condition," Lt. Walker said.

It's through the heroic and quick actions by her friends that the victim is now listed in stable condition.

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