Philadelphia police release video of violent robberies in 17th District; suspects sought

PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- Philadelphia Police are investigating multiple violent robberies in the 17th district and are searching for two suspects.

Police said surveillance cameras caught the first incident in the 1500 block of Broad Street around 11 p.m. on February 4.

The video shows two suspects following a 19-year-old victim on Broad Street. When the man turned onto the 1400 block of Tasker, police say the two suspects struck, attacking and robbing the man of his wallet. Police said the suspects got away with approximately $200.

"It's the Broad Street corridor, so people are out on Broad Street all the time, so it was awfully brazen and very violent," said Philadelphia Police Staff Inspector Sekou Kinebrew. "Thankfully at this point, it doesn't appear that any of the victims did suffer life threatening injuries, but you can imagine how harrowing that experience was...we certainly don't want this to happen again."

The second incident occurred around 10:45 a.m. on February 6.

Surveillance video captured two suspects following a 19-year-old victim at the Ellsworth-Federal subway station. Police said the suspects then attacked the man while he was waiting for the train and robbed him of his AirPods.

"Moving forward, I would like to see more policemen and maybe the mayor doing something about South Philadelphia and of course all of Philadelphia but South Philadelphia is really getting hit hard," said South Philadelphia resident Dolores Tordini.

"Oh my gosh that's crazy," said South Philadelphia resident Brenda Mims. "Kids are on the subway in the morning going to school. I've never seen anybody waiting out here for anyone."

SEPTA is working closely with Philadelphia Police as they conduct their investigation.

Police are asking anyone with information to contact them.