Gunfire exchanged in Frankford home invasion

FRANKFORD - September 19, 2013

Late Thursday night, an investigator with Northeast Detectives went through the Frankford house taking pictures and collecting evidence after the 41-year-old homeowner fought off and shot one of two home invaders.

"What's going on? That was my reaction right then and there," next door neighbor Gayle Robinson said.

Robinson arrived at her home on the 5200 block of Sylvester Street to find police keeping watch over the front and the back of the victim's house.

Police say around 1:00 p.m. Thursday the owner tells them two armed men broke in through the rear.

Once inside, the victim says he jumped on one of suspected robbers, wrestled his weapon away, and exchanged gunfire with the second robber, hitting him.

"We always hear people say 'it hasn't happened around here.' It's never happened around here. I've been living around here for 16 years," Robinson said.

Police taped off a long stretch of the alley where they found a trail of blood, possibly belonging to the injured criminal.

Even though the home invasion happened earlier in the day, it took hours for investigators to get a search warrant, something they say is typical for this type of crime.

Meanwhile, Robinson took her young, upset daughter to a relative's house.

"She has every right to be upset so that's why right now I'm going to take her to my sister's house so she can't be around this," Robinson said.

There are some residents with surveillance cameras in this neighborhood so police are checking those to try to get a look at the two men.

Northeast detectives questioned the 41-year-old homeowner.

Action News spoke with him Thursday night, but he was still too upset to talk about his ordeal on camera.

Anyone with information is asked to contact Philadelphia Police at 215-686-TIPS (8477), text a tip to PPD TIP (773847) or through PhillyPolice.com.

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