Gunman at large after man shot outside Walmart store in Northeast Philadelphia

NORTHEAST PHILADELPHIA -- Police are searching for the gunman who shot and wounded a man in the parking lot of a Walmart store in Northeast Philadelphia.

It happened at about 1:00 a.m. Friday outside the Philadelphia Mills Mall, formerly known as the Franklin Mills Mall.

The 26-year-old victim was shot about 75 feet from the front door of the Walmart. The store was open at the time, and police say it's lucky there weren't more injuries.

"When the shooting took place, this Walmart was open for business," said Chief Inspector Scott Small. "There were customer cars in the parking lot, there were several customers in the Walmart, there were about 20 employees in the Walmart."

"We're very fortunate there was no one else injured and no one was struck by stray gunfire," Small continued.

Small said the shooting was recorded by store surveillance cameras.

He said it shows the gunman getting out of the driver's side of his vehicle and walking to the passenger side of another car, where the victim was sitting.

"Somehow the door opened on the victim's vehicle - the passenger front door - and shots were fired," Small said. "You can see the flash of the weapon and the shots being fired and then the victim's vehicle fleeing the scene."

Investigators say the victim had arranged to meet a person who may have owed him some money.

Because this was a pre-arranged meeting, and because it was all caught on surveillance video, police are pretty confident they know who they're looking for.

The victim had been shot in the chest, arm, and leg.

Police say the victim's vehicle was being driven by his brother, who drove the victim to Holy Redeemer Hospital in Abington Township after the shooting.

That's where police first learned of the shooting, after hospital workers alerted police about a gunshot victim.

The victim was later transferred to Temple University Hospital in guarded condition.

Officers converged on the Walmart parking lot and recovered a spent shell casing and broken glass that appeared to come from a vehicle's window.