2A shooting yesterday morning in what police called a "high drug-trafficking area" in Strawberry Mansion left three people critically wounded, including a 66-year-old woman.
Central Detectives said the three were outside drinking on Stanley Street near Huntingdon, in an area where numerous shootings have occurred in the last month, when they were hit by bullets from multiple gunmen about 1:30 a.m.
The 66-year-old woman was shot once in the left shoulder and once in the back, police said. A 56-year-old man was shot once in the left arm, once in the abdomen and once in the left thigh, and a 48-year-old woman was shot once in the back, once in the buttocks and once in the left leg, according to police. All remain in critical condition at Temple University Hospital.
3Police were sent out looking for one of their own Saturday morning when a locked cruiser was stolen from the parking lot of the 35th Police District between 4 and 6 a.m., said Lt. Frank Vanore, a police spokesman.
Two 39th District officers had parked the cruiser in the lot, rolled up the windows and locked the doors when they went in to Northwest Detectives, housed at the 35th District at Broad and Champlost streets, about 4 a.m., police said.
When they emerged about 6 a.m. their marked cruiser - number 3923, a 2008 Chevy - was missing from the lot, Vanore said.
A set of extra keys was left in the center console, Vanore said, but when the car was located about 1 p.m. about two miles away on 21st Street near 73rd Avenue, there were no signs of forced entry or damage.
Vanore said a resident on the block reported seeing a man in a navy blue jacket wearing a police hat get out of the car and toss the hat back in the vehicle. The thief most likely wore the hat, which was left in the cruiser, to lower his odds of being stopped, Vanore said.
Police have not yet identified the suspect but they hope fingerprints on the car will help pinpoint his identity.
