A fight between two men left both hospitalized, one with wounds caused by a large piece of lumber and the other with multiple stab wounds that left him in very critical condition.
The argument began near 67th and Ogontz avenues in Philadelphia’s West Oak Lane neighborhood around 1 a.m. Thursday.
“Upon police arrival they found a 49-year-old male who had stumbled into a market… this victim was suffering from four stab wounds to his chest and abdomen,” said Philadelphia Police Chief Inspector Scott Small.
The victim left a trail of blood between the stabbing scene and the store, said Small.
As doctors at Einstein Medical Center treated the 49-year-old, a 56-year man showed up at the hospital – he drove himself – with a gash to his head, said Small. A witness identified the 56-year-old as the one who stabbed the 49-year-old.
“The 49-year-old, before he got stabbed, used a large 2x4, about 7-feet long, and struck the 56-year-old in the head,” Small said.
Small said that inside the 56-year-old’s car was a 10-inch knife with blood on it that investigators believe was used in the stabbing.
No word yet on charges.
A bomb threat closed a Pennsylvania Catholic college Thursday morning.
Marywood University in Scranton evacuated students due to the threat.
Due to a bomb threat, Marywood is closed until further notice. Resident students are being evacuated to a safe location.
— Marywood University (@MarywoodU) September 24, 2015
The campus along Adams Avenue remained closed indefinitely with no information available about the root of the anonymous threat.
The school later canceled afternoon classes and kept its offices closed as police investigated the threat.
Marywood is a 100-year-old co-educational liberal arts college “roots itself in the Catholic intellectual tradition, the principle of justice, and the belief that education empowers people,” according to its website.
A stabbing near Philadelphia’s City Hall left a man dead.
The incident played out shortly before 7 a.m. along the 100 block of N Broad Street and left a 47-year-old man stabbed in the chest, said Philadelphia Police. The victim died a short time later at nearby Hahnemann Hospital.
As SkyForce10 hovered overhead a short time later, you could see police investigating a roped off area of sidewalk as traffic continued to get by on the street.
No word yet on what led to the deadly incident.
Police said the killer got away.
Passengers were escorted off an airplane after it landed at Philadelphia International Airport Thursday morning. Philadelphia Police said crews searched the plane and found a bullet on board a Frontier flight.
Flight 1000 had taken off from Miami, Florida around 7 a.m. and arrived in Philly around 9:30 a.m., according to Flight Aware.
Shortly after landing, all passengers were urged to sit tight while TSA agents entered the Airbus A320, said Doris D. Meneses, who was on the flight.
Meneses, who grew up in Pennsylvania, said the agents took a male passenger and spoke to him in the front of the plane before letting him return to his seat.
Frontier confirmed that a bullet was found and released this brief statement: "TSA searched the plane, found no problems and let all the customers deplane."
In total, the deplaning was delayed by about 30 minutes before TSA agents filed everyone off the plane single file along the jetway and escorted passengers through the concourse, said Meneses.
Police said that investigators didn’t find anything else suspicious on board and that no arrests were made.
The TSA had told passengers that if they had connecting flights that they would have to go back through security to catch their connecting flights, said Meneses.
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12:01 p.m. -- What Would You Ask Pope Francis For?
If Melissa Natale could ask Pope Francis for anything, it would be peace for people battling addiction and cancer.
"There's a lot of addiction in my family and cancer in my family," Natale said outside the Cathedral Basilica of Ss. Peter and Paul on Thursday morning. "I would ask for peace for those people ... anybody who's struggling with any kind of inner demon that hopefully they can overcome it and find peace."
Natale, of South Philadelphia, got together with two of her childhood friends to visit their alma mater, St. Maria Goretti High School (now Neumann-Goretti) in South Philly, and to make a special visit to the Cathedral ahead of the Pope's visit. She and her friends will also be attending Saturday's Festival of Families and Pope Francis' Mass on the Parkway on Sunday.
For Theresa Johnson, one of the three friends, the request from Pope Francis would be a cure for cancer, she said.
"Is thank him for being a Pope for the people," Johnson added.
Next to Johnson and Natale were Megan McGee and her mom, Barbara McGee. Barbara said it means a lot to her to see her daughter and her daughter's childhood friends keeping up with the Catholic faith in which they were raised in South Philly.
Barbara would have a tall order for Pope Francis if she could ask for anything, she said.
"Just for world peace," she said. "There's so much conflict, it's so sad. So many homeless, so many people without limbs, so many soldiers coming home. Just make it a better place."
11:29 a.m. -- Pope Merchandise
It turns out that Pope Francis bobbleheads are the souvenir to have ahead of the pontiff's visit to Philadelphia this weekend.
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A Center City merchant said in the last three days, the bobbleheads have been flying off the shelves at a souvenir stand set up by the Logan Square Cafe, at 18th Street and Benjamin Franklin Parkway across the street from the Cathedral Basilica of Ss. Peter and Paul. An employee estimated that she's sold at least 200 of the bobbleheads in three days. They go for $27 a pop at this stand -- and they're expecting to get a few more to sell.
The stand also sold out of rosaries, the employee said. But Pope Francis stuffed dolls are still available. Those go for $20 plus tax.
Bob Schumann, 72, of Philadelphia's Bridesburg section, is a proud owner of one of the bobbleheads.
"I wanted something. I go to church every morning," Schumann said. "I have my own altar upstairs ... in my house."
Schumann said he'll be here on the Parkway to see Pope Francis this weekend, just as he was in 1979 when then-Pope John Paul II visited the city.
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9:42 a.m. -- Preparations are continuing Thursday morning as Pope Francis' much-anticipated visit grows closer. Workers buzzed about before 10 a.m., working on a temporary stage and other structures, as security guards diverted what light foot traffic there was in the area north on 23rd Street from Benjamin Franklin Parkway's westbound outer lanes.
David Atkinson got all kinds of reactions from passersby as he stood outside Philadelphia's City Hall with a fake bloodstain on the crotch of his white jeans, waving a sign that read, "Foreskin theft!"
Some were supportive. Others, not so much.
"We do get a lot of heckles," Atkinson, 27, conceded. The Long Island native said he started demonstrating with Bloodstained Men, an organization against circumcision, about a year ago. "We get heckles every city we go to, but we also get a lot of support. People say, 'Where were you when I was born?'"
Atkinson and a handful of others -- mostly men, but one woman, too -- demonstrated outside City Hall on Thursday afternoon as hordes of people passed the intersection. Atkinson said the group's trip to Philly is part of an East Coast tour they're doing, and that it coincidentally happened at the same time that the World Meeting of Families is in town and travelers are flocking to the city for Pope Francis' weekend visit.
"We didn't even know," Atkinson said of the papal visit.
Supporters of the group call themselves "intactivists" who believes that every child, regardless of their gender or parents' beliefs, has the right to preserve their genitals in the way they were born, according to their website. He said his organization believes circumcision is "a human-rights issue."
His fellow protesters -- who all wore white jeans with faux bloodstains at the groin -- waved loud signs declaring, "How DARE You Cut HIS Penis!" and "Stop cutting baby penis" in bold black lettering.
"We're here to let people know that foreskins are healthy and valuable," Atkinson said. "Because men grow up and realize they want to keep their genitals intact."
A young boy is being hailed a hero after he saved his mother from a house fire in New Jersey.
Bradley, 7, spotted the flames outside his bedroom window and immediately screamed “fire” to wake his mother up. They then both escaped from the home unharmed.
“I think it’s amazing,” said Bradley’s grandmother Deb Beloin. “He’s a hero. If it wasn’t for him I don’t know what would have happened.”
The fire started in Bradley Bianchino’s home on Meadow Creek Drive in Dennis Township early Tuesday morning.
Bradley says the power of prayer allowed him to save his mother.
“I prayed right before I went to bed,” he said. “Just somehow I must’ve woke up. I got lucky because I prayed.”
The fire caused extensive damage to the home. A GoFundMe page was set up to help with repair costs.
Officials continue to investigate the cause of the fire.