Suspect charged with killing man during carjacking outside mosque in Upper Darby
UPPER DARBY, Pennsylvania (WPVI) -- Police have made an arrest for a homicide outside a mosque in Upper Darby, Pennsylvania last fall.
Herman Stigall, 20, has been charged with first-degree murder in the fatal shooting of 65-year-old Mohammad Mahabub Rahman.
Rahman was shot during a carjacking around 7:45 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 29 in the parking lot behind the Masjid Al Madinah Upper Darby Islamic Center at South 69th and Walnut streets.
Officers later recovered Rahman's car on Webster and South Cecil streets in West Philadelphia.
Police said they believe this was a random act of violence, not a hate crime and not motivated by the fact the victim was a member of the mosque.
Friends say Rahman had come to the mosque with the intention to pray. He was a husband and father who left behind three children.
Upper Darby Police Superintendent Timothy Bernhardt says the department invested hundreds of thousands of dollars into data-gathering evidence technology to arrest Stigall.
Through that technology and cooperation with other agencies, investigators discovered Stigall committed an armed robbery at the King of Prussia Mall the day after the shooting.
Police say he was driving a Nissan Altima on December 29, 2023, in Upper Darby when he was spotted by officers.
"Uniform officers attempted to stop him at which time he fled. We pursued him in that vehicle through the city of Philadelphia," said Bernhardt.
Police say he eventually crashed the vehicle on I-76 and ran. Action News was there when police arrested Stigall on Martin Luther King Drive.
His arrest has brought justice and some closure to the community.
"I'm proud of Upper Darby Township police, done a good job to find the killer," said Sheikh Siddique, the president-elect of the Masjid Al Madinah Upper Darby Islamic Center.
"I'm so grateful to all the agencies that have been working very hard," added Mian Ahmad, the victim's friend.
Police say when they arrested Stigall he had a ghost gun, which was used to kill Rahman. They also believe Rahman's clothing was in Stigall's vehicle.
Rahman was a corrections officer for the city of Philadelphia. He had been with the department since 2021 and worked at the Riverside Correctional Facility.
