Police: Innocent driver killed in Germantown; child was in car
GERMANTOWN (WPVI) -- Philadelphia police say the man who was shot and killed in Germantown last week was an innocent driver who unknowingly drove right into the middle of a shootout.
It happened while his young child was in the car.
Officers were called to the scene of a shooting around 6 p.m. on Thursday, July 28, in the 5100 block of Germantown Avenue.
25-year-old Alsharay Ford had just picked the child up from her daycare when two rival groups started firing across the busy street.
Ford was on the phone with the girl's mother who asked to speak with her daughter as she rode in her car seat.
At that moment, bullets entered the car.
"He turns and is actually giving the phone to his daughter, and says 'Here, mommy wants to talk to you,' and that exact moment the bullet strikes him in the head. But if he's not reaching back across the console to reach back and give her the phone- it may have struck her," said Capt. James Clark.
Ford was hit and crashed his car about two blocks away.
Police found him still in the driver's seat of a car with gunshot wounds to his head and shoulder.
Police rushed him to the hospital, and he was placed in critical condition, but he died the next day.
Officers found his 3-year-old daughter in the backseat unharmed.
Detectives have recovered surveillance video that shows the shooting in progress. They expect to make quick arrests.
"I mean you have a father, a hard-working guy. He's never been in trouble with the law and he picks up the daughter and the next thing you know he is dead. It's just very sad," said Clark.
The child's mother is said to be distraught after hearing the shooting play out on the cell phone. The child is physically okay but said to be traumatized after witnessing her father get shot.
Anyone with information is asked to contact the Homicide Unit at 215-686-3334 or call 911.
As with all homicides in Philadelphia, there is a $20,000 reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction.
