A Philadelphia father fired back when two armed home invaders forced their way into his family’s home during a robbery attempt.
The 27-year-old man and his family – four daughters ages 4 and under – had just come home to the 1900 block of Pratt Street in the city’s Frankford section around 11 p.m. Monday.
"The mother brought the four girls... upstairs and was putting them to bed and that's when there was a knock on the door," said Philadelphia Police Chief Inspector Scott Small.
The father opened the door to find two armed men, said police.
"There was a struggle between the 27-year-old homeowner and these two males and one of the perpetrators did shoot the homeowner two times," said Small.
The resident was shot in the mouth and leg but was able to fight back, grabbing his gun.
"The homeowner returned fire striking and killing one of the perpetrators," said Small.
Officers arrived to find the suspect dead in the living room of a gunshot wound to the head, said police. The second suspect ran out of the home and fled west on Pratt Street.
In total 11 shots were fired, said investigators.
The resident was hospitalized, said police.
"Although the homeowner... was shot by one of these perpetrators we are still very fortunate that his wife nor any of his four children were struck by gunfire or injured in any way," said Small.
Police didn’t immediately say if any charges would be filed.
A car struck a South Jersey girl about to board her school bus Tuesday morning.
The Toyota Corolla struck the unidentified girl – believed to be around middle school age – along Route 9 at W Ocean Avenue in Upper Township, Cape May County, New Jersey State Police told NBC10's Ted Greenberg.
The girl was rushed to the Trauma Unit at AtlantiCare Regional Medical Center in Atlantic City with undisclosed injuries, said police.
The car driver and school bus driver both stopped at the scene.
It wasn’t clear where the Sheppard Bus Service bus was headed.
Expect traffic trouble in the area.
Three football players at Conestoga High School in Berwyn admitted Tuesday to attacking a younger football player in the school's locker room in October, according to a press release.
The joint statement, which came from the Chester County District Attorney's office and defense attorneys for the three juvenile defendants, said they "have accepted responsibility for their conduct. They have made an admission to the criminal summary offense of harassment."
A trial was scheduled to begin Tuesday, but in releasing the statement, the parties said, "all the records are sealed and the parties will not be making any further public comment."
Contrary to accusations made in March by Chester County District Attorney Tom Hogan, who said older players were accused of putting their genitals on younger players' heads and poking a younger player in between his legs with a broomstick, the statement said "one of the charged juveniles briefly poked the victim with a broom stick in the leg."
The head coach of the high school's football team resigned in the midst of allegations of systemic hazing. The October incident at the center of the charges allegedly occurred on what was known among the students as "No Gay Thursday," Hogan said in March.
The attack happened as older players ordered younger teammates to clean the locker room.
According to the statement Tuesday, "When the victim refused to clean and attempted to leave the locker room, he was shoved, pushed and briefly held down by the three charged juveniles in an effort to get him to clean the locker room."
In March, Hogan said that when the boy tried to leave, an upperclassman told teammates, "stick a broom up his a--."
"This is a simple case about ignorance, violence and a shocking lack of supervision," Hogan said in March.
In the statement, "The victim, the charged juveniles, and their respective families all would like the opportunity to move on with their lives. We all hope never to see an incident like this in Chester County again."
A Philadelphia police officer seen on video repeatedly punching a teenager during a large street brawl in the southwest section of the city Monday afternoon has been put on administrative duty until an investigation is complete.
The female officer, who has not been identified, admitted to punching the 16-year-old girl after the teenager allegedly slapped the officer in the face, police said Tuesday. The teen could also be seen on two videos posted to social media yelling at and grabbing the officer by the arms before the officer eventually took her to the ground.
The teenager allegedly admitted to slapping the officer during interviews with detectives after the fight. She was released in the hours after the fight and police have recommended to the District Attorney that the girl be charged with assault of an officer and disorderly conduct, a police spokesman said.
As many as 30 people were involved in a street fight at 54th Street and Springfield Avenue about 3:30 p.m., police said. Family members of some of the brawlers called police from a nearby house, according to one witness, Takeema Bundy.
As responding officers attempted to break up the fight, two videos posted to social media showed the fighting.
A video posted on Instagram first pans across the street, capturing the scope of a mass melee. Within a few moments, the video focuses in on a female police officer who is pushing a teen girl away from the center of the fracas.
The teenager yells at the officer, then begins to shove the officer and grabs the officer's arms. For about a second, the video moves away, but when it returns to the officer and teenager, the officer is seen throwing the teen girl to the ground. The officer then straddles the teen and repeatedly punches the teen as the teen swings back. The officer then pulls the teen girl up by her hair as other brawlers swarm around the two and another officer comes into the frame. The video then ends.
“They threw me against the car and they slammed her on the ground,” the teen’s legal guardian, who did not want to be identified, told NBC10.
Another video posted on Facebook also shows the incident between the officer and the teen, though it does not show the large brawl that occurred right before. Toward the end of the Facebook video, a second assisting officer can be seen separating some of the brawlers from surrounding the initial female officer and teenager.
Bundy, who is also a friend of the teen, claimed the girl was actually trying to break up the brawl but threw a punch at someone before she was confronted by the police officer. She also told NBC10 the teen's mother died two weeks ago.
“I just feel like she didn’t deserve it,” Bundy said while in tears. “She lost her mom. She don’t got nobody and I feel she was there for me and look where she’s at.”
The teenager is currently in police custody. Philadelphia police say they’re aware of it and its being investigated by the Internal Affairs Division.
“She’s 16 years old,” Bundy said. “I don’t think she deserves that. The cop shouldn’t have done that. That lady was like 30 something.”
Warning: These videos contain violence and strong language
A bus driver who struck and killed a man who had tried to board moments before and then left the scene told police he didn’t now he had hit anyone, according to investigators.
Investigators say Keith Elliott, 45, left his home on Messenger Street in Toms River, New Jersey around 10:30 a.m. on Christmas Day and walked to the bus terminal on Highland parkway. He was planning on taking a bus to Lacey Township to spend the holiday with his family.
As he was walking, Elliott spotted a New Jersey Transit bus, investigators said. The bus had exited the terminal and was turning onto Herflicker Boulevard. The 60-year-old bus driver stopped after Elliott waved him down and tried to board. Investigators say the driver allowed Elliott to cross in front of him but gestured to him that he could not board the bus.
The bus driver told police he believed Elliott had continued walking away and toward the terminal. The driver then turned onto Herflicker Boulevard and continued his route. As he was turning, police believe the driver struck Elliott. Both the driver and passengers on the bus told police they did not know Elliott had been hit. Elliott later died from his injuries.
So far no charges have been filed in the crash but police continue to investigate. Elliott’s sister Cristi Elliott told NBC10 she was stunned and angry by the new developments in the investigation.
“I still don’t know what to think,” she said. “I’m mad because the kid lost his life for nothing. You gotta hear thump off the side of the bus. You have to hear something especially if you’re sitting in the bus.”
A New Jersey Transit spokesperson told NBC10 the bus driver has been with the agency for 22 years and will remain out of service until a thorough internal investigation is completed.
“There’s closure because we know what happened,” Cristi Elliott said. “At the same time there isn’t closure because you don’t know why it happened.”
A proposal to build a $58 million middle school in rural northwest Montgomery County is expected to garner strong turnout at a public hearing Wednesday.
The forum is a state-required step in the process of building a new school for Upper Perkiomen School District.
Since the district school board voted last year to move forward with the project, some residents have formed a group called Upper Perk Concerned Citizens. One of the members said Tuesday that they have gathered a few hundred signatures for a petition calling for renovation of the current middle school instead of new construction.
Advocates for the new school, which would be built on Montgomery Avenue in Upper Hanover, say a growing student population and an aging district infrastructure make a new school essential to the region.
The regional district serves seven municipalities: East Greenville, Green Lane, Pennsburg, Red Hill, Marlborough and Upper Hanover in Montgomery County, and Hereford in Berks County.
The number of students in these communities on the fringe of the Philadelphia region has grown each year this decade and is forecast to continue growing into the next.
Superintendent Alexis McGloin has said taxes would go up $484 over the next four years on properties assessed at $200,000. She said that represents a 8.6 percent increase.
"We haven’t had a project like this in a long time," McGloin told NBC10.com last month. "It’s something very valuable to the school district."
Next year, the district's only middle school, at Fifth and Jefferson streets in East Greenville, will turn 70 years old. It has had five additions built onto it since its construction in 1947.
"The feasibility study shows that the building enrollment is currently exceeding the functional capacity of approximately 768 students," a report on the proposed new school said.
Originally, the building was the East Greenville High School, and became a middle school in 1966.
"The District does not believe it would be prudent to once again expand an aging building," the report said, adding that the building is "currently in fair condition."
It would be converted into a school for fourth and fifth graders under the proposal.
The current middle school is already over capacity and there is "clearly" a need to improve infrastructure, according to a recent district report.
Firefighters are battling a fire at a Lehigh Valley greenhouse.
The three-alarm fire started shortly before 9 p.m. Tuesday at the Dan Schantz Farm and Greenhouse on the 8000 block of Spinnerstown Road in Zionsville, Pennsylvania. So far no injuries have been reported.
Some customers are demanding their money back and accusing a Center City bar of falsely advertising a New Year’s Eve party.
Jackie Scalsky told NBC10 she spent more than $90 for a New Year’s Eve event at 1925 Lounge, a cocktail lounge located on 111 S. 17th Street. An online ad for the event promised food buffet stations and a countdown. Scalsky said she saw neither when she and her friends arrived.
“They said, ‘No food, sorry,’” Scalsky told NBC10. “No other explanation. Midnight came and went. They didn’t do the countdown at midnight either.”
Scott Culler told NBC10 he visited 1925 Lounge from Baltimore for the event and spent more than $100 for a ticket. He also claimed some of his friends spent $300.
“It didn’t seem like the food or the premium open bar, the hand-crafted cocktails that were promised,” Culler said. “They didn’t really deliver on any of that.”
NBC10 reached out to Joonbug Productions which organized the New Year’s Eve party.
“On behalf of 1925 Lounge & Joonbug, we would like to apologize to all of our customers who feel they did not receive what they paid for this New Year's Eve,” a spokesperson for Joonbug Productions wrote in a statement. “Both companies are working together to investigate the events that took place and promise to do right by our customers.”
Culler told NBC10 he wants at least a partial refund.
“I think partial refunds are the most appropriate action they should take,” Culler said. “Until that happens I’ll continue to doubt the lounge.”
NBC10 discovered the Better Business Bureau listed ten closed complaints for Joonbug Productions in the past three years. A majority of the complaints were for advertising and sales issues as well as problems with products and service.
Culler and Scalsky told NBC10 they’re waiting to hear back from Joonbug Productions and 1925 Lounge personally. Another person who complained about the New Year’s Eve event also told NBC10 she and her friend received a complimentary table and bottle service for a later date.
BITTER COLD: A SURE BET
We just finished the second warmest year ever recorded in Philadelphia. December wasn’t exactly balmy, but temperatures did average about 1.5 degrees above normal. Still, that was WAAAAY colder than last December, when we were more than 13 degrees above normal, setting records all over the place.
We had two days with temperatures getting down into the teens, but only one day failed to reach the freezing mark (Dec. 16th, with a high of only 26). We’re about to get into a stretch where temperatures may not get above freezing for FIVE straight days!
Here is the map showing low temperatures Wednesday morning in the eastern half of the country:
Those are not wind chills, they are actual temperatures. Readings go close to 10 degrees near Chicago, -3 in Minneapolis, and about -18 in Carson Wentz’s home state of North Dakota. And where is that bitter cold air going? It’s going our way (no, it’s not going to get below zero here, but it will be quite cold).
Here is what that same type of map will look like by Saturday morning in the Northeast:
The below zero air has retreated into Canada by the weekend. But look at this map-it shows EVERY state in the lower 48 with temperatures below freezing at the same time!
AND NOW FOR THE SNOW….
It’s been a pretty quiet snow season around here. And we still don’t see any major winter storms in sight. But at least part of our area will be on the northern edge of a couple of storms in the next several days.
Here is the first one, according to the U.S. GFS model for Friday at 7 a.m.
The LOW pressure off the North Carolina coast isn’t very strong, but there’s enough moisture to spread a little snow as far north as Philadelphia. Obviously, the snow is most likely to fall (and to accumulate) in Southern Delaware and the Jersey Shore. But those blue colors representing the snow are light blue, not the dark blue or purple that would indicate heavy snow.
The second chance at snow is with a bigger storm, with more moisture on Saturday. The storms are so close together that the first one will influence the other. The stronger the first storm is, the more the second one will be suppressed to the south. So, while the GFS model emphasizes the first storm and gives our area nothing from the 2nd storm, other models show the opposite.
The Canadian model has a weaker first storm and then a wider area of snow with the second one. Here is their map for Sunday at 1pm:
Again, it’s not an intense storm at all, but there’s just enough moisture to spread just far enough north to graze part of our area. As with the first storm, the best chance of any accumulation is in Southern Delaware and at the Jersey Shore.
Obviously, both of these snow “threats” are on the minor side, but in a winter season with so few of these, they become more significant.
Here are the 10 things you need to know to start your day from your friends at NBC10.
TODAY'S TOP STORY
Firefighters Battle Fire at Greenhouse in Lehigh Valley: Firefighters are battling a fire at a Lehigh Valley greenhouse. The three-alarm fire started shortly before 9 p.m. Tuesday at the Dan Schantz Farm and Greenhouse on the 8000 block of Spinnerstown Road in Zionsville, Pennsylvania. So far no injuries have been reported.
YOUR FIRST ALERT FORECAST
Wednesday will start out with ome fog but is expected to be dry with temperatures in the 50s. The cold air should return by Thursday and snow is possible for very early Friday morning. Saturday and Sunday are expected to be cold but dry. High Temp: 53 Degrees. Get your full NBC10 First Alert forecast here.
WHAT YOU MISSED YESTERDAY
Judge Dismisses Murder Charges Against Former Wrestler: A judge has dismissed the murder charges against former pro wrestler Jimmy "Superfly" Snuka, deeming him mentally incompetent to stand trial in the 1983 death of his girlfriend. The ex-wrestler was charged in September 2015 in the death of 23-year-old Nancy Argentino, whose body was found in their Whitehall Township hotel room in 1983. Authorities reopened the investigation after The Morning Call newspaper raised questions about the case in 2013. Prosecutors alleged she was beaten, while Snuka has maintained that she died from a fall. The defense argued Snuka, 73, couldn't stand trial because he suffers from dementia, partly due to the head trauma he suffered over a long career in the ring. The prosecution argued Snuka's brain showed normal signs of aging and suggested he was faking symptoms. Snuka's attorney Robert Kiran said his client was in hospice care in Florida and had six months to live.
AROUND THE WORLD
Turkey Detains 5 IS Suspects Linked to Nightclub Attack: Turkish authorities on Wednesday said they determined the identity of the gunman in the Istanbul nightclub attack and that they have detained five suspected Islamic State group militants believed to be linked to the event, the state-run news agency reported. The police operation to detain the IS suspects was launched in the Aegean port city of Izmir and was ongoing, Anadolu Agency said. The gunman, who killed 39 people during New Year's celebrations, hasn't been publicly named and is still at large. However, Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said authorities had established his identity. No other details were released.
Customers Accuse Center City Bar of Falsely Advertising NYE Party: Some customers are demanding their money back and accusing a Center City bar of falsely advertising a New Year’s Eve party. Jackie Scalsky told NBC10 she spent more than $90 for a New Year’s Eve event at 1925 Lounge, a cocktail lounge located on 111 S. 17th Street. An online ad for the event promised food buffet stations and a countdown. Scalsky said she saw neither when she and her friends arrived. “They said, ‘No food, sorry,’” Scalsky told NBC10. “No other explanation. Midnight came and went. They didn’t do the countdown at midnight either.” Scott Culler told NBC10 he visited 1925 Lounge from Baltimore for the event and spent more than $100 for a ticket. He also claimed some of his friends spent $300. “On behalf of 1925 Lounge & Joonbug, we would like to apologize to all of our customers who feel they did not receive what they paid for this New Year's Eve,” a spokesperson for Joonbug Productions wrote in a statement. “Both companies are working together to investigate the events that took place and promise to do right by our customers.”
SPORTS SPOT
Sixers Beat Timberwolves : The Sixers won at the buzzer 93 to 91 against the Minnesota Timberwolves. Get your full sports news at CSNPhilly.
PHOTO OF THE DAY
See more Top News Photos here.
THROUGH IGER'S EYES
@ladyday16 captured this cool photo of a colorful craft day.
Have an awesome Instagram photo you'd like to share? Tag it with #NBC10Buzz.
TODAY'S VIRAL VIDEO
Don't flush sodium metal down the toilet. Watch more here.
Brian Dawkins, Terrell Owens Among Finalists for Pro Football Hall of Fame: Eagles great Brian Dawkins is one step closer to being immortalized in Canton. Dawkins has made the cut from 26 semifinalists to 15 finalists for the Pro Football Hall of Fame to be voted on by the Hall of Fame committee the day before Super Bowl LI in February. These Hall of Famers will be enshrined in Canton, Ohio, in August. "It's a blessing to be mentioned among the names of so many other guys who have made it this far, let alone to be hopefully in the Hall of Fame someday," Dawkins said in a statement released by the Eagles on Tuesday. In his first year of Hall of Fame eligibility, Dawkins is a finalist, along with former Eagles receiver Terrell Owens, who is a finalist for the second straight year. Read more.
That's what you need to know. We've got more stories worthy of your time in the Breakfast Buzz section. Click here to check them out.
A 7-year-old girl and a woman were killed when two cars collided head-on in Allentown Tuesday night, police said.
The child, Yartezi Ramos, of Kissimmee, Florida, died shortly before midnight at Lehigh Valley Hospital, about an hour after the 10:30 p.m. crash at the intersection of Fourth and Susquehanna streets, according to a preliminary autopsy report.
One of the drivers, Christine Rivera, 47, died about 1:30 a.m. Wednesday at a nearby hospital, a preliminary autopsy report said.
Neither reports indicated exact cause of death.
Police did not say how many people were in the cars or in which cars the victims were.
Allentown Police Chief Keith Morris said the investigation is still ongoing at the scene.
