Police at the Jersey Shore are looking for a man who they say tried to lure a girl into his car.
The 14-year-old girl was walking to a friend's house on Huron Avenue in Absecon, N.J. around 10 p.m. on Monday when a man drove up next to her along adjacent Pitney Road, police said.
The man, who was driving a mid-size blue four-door sedan, told the girl to get into his car twice, police said. After refusing, she ran to her friend's house, which is located nearby. They then called police.
The luring suspect is believed to be in his 30s with dark hair and a large nose. The blue sedan may have had NJ license plates, police said.
Anyone with information is asked to call Absecon Police at 609.641.0667.
A man has been killed and two others are fighting for their lives after a triple shooting inside a Bucks County home early Tuesday morning. One of the men had been paralyzed and confined to a wheelchair after a previous shooting.
The shooting took place just after 1 a.m. Tuesday at a home along the quiet 900 block of Winder Drive in Bristol Township, Pa., police said.
Bristol Township Police Acting Chief John Godzieba confirmed 24-year-old Tyrone Moss, of Levittown, Pa., died at the home after being shot in the head.
Josh Johnson, the 29-year-old homeowner, was also shot in the head, the chief said. The man, who family say has been wheelchair bound since a 2006 shooting, is on life-support at Aria Torresdale Hospital in Philadelphia.
"He's a good guy and it's a shame. It's sad," said Johnson's friend Kendra Jones. She described him as a peacekeeper.
Godzieba said the third man, identified as 24-year-old Lamell Duffy, of Levittown, Pa., was also taken to Aria. He's listed in serious condition with a gunshot wound to the back.
Duffy was able to run from the house after being shot and go to a neighbor's home, according to police. The chief said that was the first report of any disturbances in the neighborhood.
Police have not named any suspects and have not recovered a weapon inside the home. Godzieba said investigators were still processing the crime scene.
A large police presence remains on the scene as the investigation continues.
A crash involving multiple cars left several people injured and a major roadway shut down Tuesday afternoon in Camden County, South Jersey.
The accident happened on the 800-block of the White Horse Pike in Oaklyn around 1:30 p.m.
Several ambulances were on the scene and, according to reports, several people were transported to area hospitals.
The busy road was shut down in both directions for nearly three hours.
We'll check you updated on this developing story.
The flames from the rowhomes in the 6500 block of Gesner Street have dissipated, but three days after the deadly blaze, fire burns in the hearts of some neighbors who say the Philadelphia Fire Department's response was inadequate.
Damylsh Colon paced up and down the street on Tuesday, surveying the charred homes. She was visibly in a daze, with her hand to her face as she recalled the block she called home for 10 years.
"It's hard for us, for everybody in the neighborhood. They say they came in three minutes but that's not right. We was all out here calling them and we had to go over there to get them," said Colon.
"They could have saved them. They could have saved the kids if they came on time."
The City of Philadelphia says the fire department's response time was 3 minutes. Some residents say it took as long as 30 minutes. Between the two versions of the story is a lot of anger and distrust. Neighbors in the southwest Philadelphia community are grappling with the loss 4-year-old twin sisters Maria and Marialla Bowah, 4-year-old Patrick Sanyeah and his 1-month-old brother Taj Jacque.
“For some, it will be incomprehensible that four children could die in a house with a fire station around the corner,” Mayor Michael Nutter acknowledged from City Hall last night six people were arrested during a community protest in front of the firehouse.
Ladder 4 Engine 40 sits just 152 steps from the center of the block -- the scene of Saturday morning’s fatal fire. It took us 74 seconds to walk from the fire company's front door to the fire scene.
That Colon and other community members are concerned and some even consumed with questions about response time could be viewed as a coping mechanism.
"That might be easier in the short term to just focus on that, because at least they are doing something active, rather than sitting with the grief,” explains Dr. Carmen McLean, a clinical psychologist and assistant professor at Penn.
Experiencing a traumatic event can also skew a person’s sense of time.
"Even with bystanders. It definitely makes sense that there is a subjective slowing of time,” said McLean. The more severe the stress or trauma, the more a victim’s perception of time can be affected.
“We see it with life-threatening situations, especially,” McLean said. Think of it this way – when you’re going through a routine like making coffee or driving to work, you’re not paying acute attention because what you’re doing is very practiced. Life-or-death events, however, require your mind to be in a hyper state of alertness.
Peter Elpha, another resident of Gesner Street said he believes the fire department did the best they could do. Elpha says he saw firefighters in the process of setting up hoses within five minutes of the start of the blaze.
"I came out of my house and I saw a fire truck here, and a fire truck there," he said, pointing to each end of Gesner Street. "The people were doing their job. It is a process that takes time. Give credit where credit is due." 
Neighbors Peter Elpha (left) and Keisha Burgess disagree on fire department's response time.
Dr. James Luebbert is the Director of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at Jefferson University Hospitals. He believes the best thing city officials can do now is keep providing information. "If the community feels that information is not enough, then there needs to be investigations so that a whole picture can be obtained for the event."
Moving beyond an angry state of mind might not be easy for people on Gesner Street, but it may be crucial.
"In the immediate aftermath, it’s important to really just focus on basic needs. Basic needs and social support. People should try to draw on their support systems,” McLean advises. “It might be important for them to accept that they might not really ever know for sure what the truth is, and that either way, however this tragedy occurred, these lives were lost and to focus on healing from that.”
Colon remains convinced that 30 minutes passed between the time she saw flames and the time she saw firefighters trying to put them down. Right now, it seems unlikely that anyone or anything will change her mind. She too is a victim.
"That was my house. It was the only thing I had," Colon said. "I have nothing. These are not even my clothes. These are my girlfriends' clothes."
As tensions continue to rise in a Southwest Philly community reeling from a tragic fire, a local hip hop star visited the neighborhood to show his support.
Robert Williams, better known by his stage name Meek Mill, arrived on the 6500 block of Gesner Street Tuesday afternoon to tour the scene of a fatal fire that killed four young children on Saturday.
The 27-year-old rapper, who grew up in North Philadelphia, walked along the block as a crowd of onlookers surrounded him.
"I just wanted to come by and show my support to all of the families and everybody that was hurt by this situation," Meek said. "I feel I'm in a position where I can help these people. Anything I can do to help them with their losses, I'm gonna do it."
The rapper said he plans on donating money to the victims of the fire.
"It feels good to have him show up for us and to know that he cares," said Comfort Bowah, the older sister of Maria and Marialla, two of the girls who were killed in the fire. "He came to show us love when other people won't do it and I'm happy that he did that for us."
During the visit, Patrick Sanyeah, the father of the two boys who were killed in the fire, 4-year-old Patrick Sanyeah and 1-month-old Taj Jacque, described his last moments with his son to Mill.
"I had just cut his hair, dropped him off," Sanyeah said. "I told him, 'Daddy gone pick you up later.' But my son died in this house. I want to thank Meek Mill for coming here. That's a real thing you're doing brother. We're all fathers. To everyone, we need help. We need the whole city's help so this doesn't happen to somebody else."
Mill’s appearance comes a day after a protest outside a local fire station nearly spiraled out of control. At least three people were arrested and a woman was hospitalized after around 200 angry residents protested outside the Engine 40 & Ladder 4 firehouse on Woodland Avenue.
The protesters claimed there was a delayed response to Saturday’s fatal fire. Mayor Michael Nutter, Fire Commissioner Derrick Sawyer and First Deputy Chief of Staff Everett Gillison denied these claims and released a timeline of the response.
An out of control driver hit two playing girls, a SEPTA bus and several other cars along a busy street in North Philadelphia Tuesday afternoon.
Witnesses say the driver hit the bus, several parked cars and two girls, 7 and 13, who were playing on a sidewalk on 8th Street and Lehigh Avenue.
The injured girls were taken to St. Christopher's Hospital with non-life threatening injuries. The driver was transported to Temple Hospital where he is being examined and tested for DUI, according to officials on the scene.
This story is developing. Stay with NBC10.com for updates.
Eleven year old Julie Bowah, sister of Maria and Marialla Bowah who perished in a Saturday morning fire on the 6500 block of Gesner Street, has been released from the hospital.
Julie was seen near the corner of Gesner Street at around 6 p.m. on Tuesday. She appeared exhausted and slightly confused.
Julie's aunt, Waday Seton said the family has yet to tell her about the passing of her younger twin sisters.
"We're waiting a little bit," Seton said. "We just don't want to overwhelm her. She really doesn't know what's going on right now."
According to Seton, Julie suffered minor injuries when she jumped from a window during the fire. Seton said she continues to pray for her sister Dewen "Marie" Bowah who remains hospitalized.
Julie was one of three Bowah children that Dewen helped escape by leaping through a second-floor window.
"Everyday my prayer is for her to come out safe," Seton said. "Until she can be okay, I don't know what to do."
Hundreds of thousands of people are in the dark after a severe storm with high winds, heavy rain and lightning slammed the Philadelphia area and its surrounding suburbs Tuesday night.
A severe thunderstorm watch was in effect for the entire area until 11 p.m. The storm moved into Berks and Chester counties around 7 p.m. and hit the Philadelphia area around 8:30 p.m., bringing with it heavy rain and damaging winds around 60 miles per hour.
"We just experienced a 65 mile per hour micro burst," said Jay Kimberly, a meteorology student who lives in the Port Richmond section of the city. "It blew metal and glass tables over six-foot fences. It came straight down and blew everything out of the way. Very scary indeed."
The storm moved into the Jersey Shore around 10 p.m. and cleared the area around midnight, leaving severe damage in its path.
In Radnor, Pa., dozens of trees fell, taking down power lines and crashing into fences outside homes. In Yeadon, a large pine tree snapped along Lansdowne Avenue and crashed into a car that was waiting at a stop light.
"It just felt like something hit it," said the driver, Chris Lewis of Drexel Hill. "I saw the mirror fall so I knew something hit it, but I didn't know it was like that."
Lewis was not injured during the crash, though if the tree had landed only a few more inches in his direction, he very well could have been.
"Luckily nobody was in the backseat," Lewis said. "Thank God."
The fallen trees and power lines led to hundreds of thousands of power outages across the area, the largest number being in Chester County.
PECO
Chester County - 69,154
Delaware County - 44,710
Montgomery County - 28,381
Philadelphia - 13,893
Bucks - 30,486
Delmarva
New Castle County - 19,000
AC Electric - 11,514
PSE&G - 33,000
Power Company Contact Info
DO NOT call 911 to tell emergency operators that your power is out. They will be dealing with real medical emergencies. You can use the following numbers to report your loss of power.
PECO
Emergency: 1-800-841-4141 (24 hour service)
Customer Service: 1-800-494-4000 (Mon through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Sat. 9 p.m. to 1 p.m.)
PPL
Emergency: 1-800-DIAL-PPL (1-800-342-5775 (24 hour service)
Customer Service: 1-800-DIAL-PPL (1-800-342-5775) (Mon. through Fri. 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.)
Atlantic City Electric
Emergency: 1-800-833-7476
Customer Service: 1-800-642-3780
PSEG
Emergency: 800-436-PSEG (7734) (24 hour service)
Delmarva
Emergency: New Castle County (DE) and Cecil and Harford Counties (MD) 1-800-898-8042
Kent and Sussex Counties (DE) and the Eastern Shore of Maryland 1-800-898-8045
American Red Cross Southeastern Pennsylvania
Contact: 215-299-4000
The storm also impacted SEPTA lines. Fox Chase regional rail service is only operating as far as Cheltenham. Chestnut Hill East service is suspended until further notice. Paoli/Thorndale service is also suspended until further notice.
On Trolley Route 101, shuttle buses are operating between 69th Street Terminal and Woodland Avenue. On Route 13, shuttle buses are operating between Yeadon and Mt. Moriah due to weather related issues.
While the storm has moved out, we're not in the clear just yet this week. More storms are expected to hit the area on Wednesday though they won't be as severe as what we saw Tuesday. Thunderstorms will move in during the afternoon. We'll then stay dry Thursday, Friday and Saturday before the storms return on Sunday.
Philadelphia’s Parkway Central Library is not only home to more than 7 million books, it now hosts the nation’s first Culinary Literacy Center.
When Liberian Ambassador Jeremiah Sulunteh walked through the scene of the deadly fire on the 6500 block of Gesner Street late Tuesday, he said he felt the full weight of the tragedy that occurred on the Southwest Philadelphia block.
"I feel very, very horrible," he said while standing on the charred porch of 6518 Gesner. "I feel like I was also part of this thing. I feel like that day I was sitting here when four innocent little children died; not at their campus, not at their daycare, but at their home."
Sulunteh compared the fire scene to that of a warzone in his home country.
"This reminds me of my own situation back home. When I stepped out there I thought I was back in a warzone where innocent children were slaughtered," he said "It breaks my heart."
The ambassador cancelled a full day's schedule of meetings to visit with family members of the fire victims and members of the immediate community.
Sulunteh held the near hour long meeting in a room in the Christ International Baptist Church. The church has served as a hub for donations for the fire victims.
Sulunteh observed the mounds of bags of donated food items and clothes that were being sorted in the church's basement.
The goal of his visit, Sulunteh said, was to get to the bottom of the cause of the fire, find a working solution to prevent similar tragedies from occurring, and to keep members of the Liberian community calm.
"We would like to see what went wrong, what was the cause, how did it happen, and how can we prevent this kind of thing from happening to others. It is this family today, it could be another family tomorrow," he said.
"The message is, the first thing is to keep calm and to engage the government to see how in the future how can we protect our children."
Four children, one-month-old Taj Jacque and his older brother, Patrick Sanyeah, and four-year-old twin sisters Maria and Marialla Bowah died in the massive fire that destroyed eight homes on Gesner Street shortly after 2:30 a.m. Saturday.
The cause of the blaze has yet to be determined.
Animal activists and dog lovers alike continue to fight to have Chuckie, a 10-year-old yellow lab, released from the First State Animal Center and SPCA (FSAC & SPCA) in Kent County. Chuckie has been held by FSAC & SPCA for almost five weeks after he got loose from his home in Bear, D.E.
As investigations continue into the fire on Saturday that killed four children, officials reveal that while the cause of flames has not yet been determined, the ignition point began on a couch located on the porch of one of the Gesner Street homes.
According to research reported by the United States Fire Association, it takes approximately four minutes for a couch fire to engulf an entire room.
The National Fire Protection Association said in an analysis of recent years that 20% of all home fire deaths occurred when upholstered furniture, like couches, is the site of ignition. They also report that upholstered furniture has led to 8,900 structure fires and $427M in property damage.
The NFPA currently has regulations regarding resistance to ignition of upholstered furniture by cigarettes. They also have proposed a document that would require testing of fire and ignition resistance of upholstered furniture using a flaming ignition source, such as an open flame or active firework.
The Consumer Product Safety Commission also “has rulemaking underway on a comprehensive federal mandatory safety standard regarding the flammability of upholstered furniture” says a CPSC representative. There are standards regarding flammability by the Upholstered Furniture Action Council, but those are voluntary for manufacturers. California currently is the only state with regulations regarding flammability of upholstered materials.
The 2010 Philadelphia Fire Code, which is the currently accepted set of regulations, lists that upholstered furniture must resist ignition by cigarettes to the standards set by the NFPA, but no other mention of upholstered furniture or couches is made in the report.
NBC10 has not found any legislation or documentation regulating the use of couches on outdoor porches.
Some cities have put legislation into effect banning couches on porches. Ann Arbor City Council in Michigan banned the use of upholstered furniture in September 2010 after a fire started on a couch on a porch resulted in the death of a 22-year-old college student. Lawrence City Commission also banned couches on front porches in 2013 due to them being a potential fire hazard.
The Licenses and Inspections Department for the City of Philadelphia was contacted regarding any possible inspections done regarding porch furniture, but no response was received. The Commissioner’s Office for the Philadelphia Fire Department was contacted regarding any fire codes dealing with furniture on porches, but no response was received.
