Cycle club member shot dead in Phila. A Hells Angels vice president was shot on a street adjacent to the Schuylkill Expressway. Police fear a gang war.

A high-ranking member of the local chapter of the Hells Angels was shot and killed early yesterday in a barrage of gunfire on a South Philadelphia street, and police braced themselves for a possible biker war.

The victim, Thomas Wood, 36, was vice president of the Philadelphia chapter, based in a two-story brick building that sits behind a foreboding iron gate bearing the metal logo "HA" at 4826 Merion Ave. in West Philadelphia.

Wood, of the 100 block of Harvin Road in Upper Darby, was shot once in the head by the two occupants of an SUV. He was driving a gray GMC pickup on a street paralleling the westbound lanes of the Schuylkill Expressway. The truck, pock-marked by bullets, then crashed into the fence of a used car lot near Vare Avenue and New Hope Street.

Police Commissioner Sylvester M. Johnson moved quickly to send a message to the Hells Angels and their rivals, the Pagans.

"We're not going to deal with any sort of retaliations," said Johnson at a midday press conference at police headquarters. "We don't want a war. We will not tolerate a war here in the city of Philadelphia."

Capt. Richard Ross of the Homicide Unit said Wood - who may not have been the intended target - joined a number of other Hells Angels celebrating Thursday night at Cheerleaders, a gentlemen's club at 2740 S. Front St. in South Philadelphia.

When Wood left, he was accompanied by a friend riding a Harley-Davidson motorcycle. Both men wore their "colors," clothing marking their affiliation with the Hells Angels, police said.

Near the expressway, the two occupants of a white Chevrolet Suburban with off-road lights began shooting at the man on the cycle. Wood "intercedes and drives his vehicle between the two of them, actually preventing the male on the motorcycle from being hit," Ross said.

When police arrived in response to a radio call at 1:40 a.m. reporting gunshots, they found that the man on the cycle, whose name was not released, had pulled Wood from the truck and was performing CPR on him.

Wood was rushed by paramedics to the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, where he was pronounced dead. After Wood arrived for emergency treatment, a contingent of Hells Angels came to the hospital, police said.

The victim's family went to the Medical Examiner's Office later yesterday to identify his body and to be offered grief counseling, officials said.