Snake breeder shot in Ridley Twp. while trying to sell 20 pythons

A 38-year-old snake breeder who was shot in Ridley Township while trying to sell 20 pythons worth about $12,000 is a computer software engineer from Douglassville who has a snake-breeding business on the side.

Mark L. Haas remains in intensive care with a collapsed lung at Crozer-Chester Medical Center after being shot Sunday in the parking lot of Woodlyn Shopping Center, said Ridley Police Lt. Scott Willoughby. His injuries are not life-threatening, he said.

Haas was supposed to sell the snakes to a buyer from New York, but police still do not know if the deal went bad or Haas was the victim of a random carjacking.

The suspect took off in Haas' car with two boxes of snakes inside and eventually hit a pole in Folsom, then ran away. Willoughby said police found the car and removed the boxes - one containing 20 baby pythons and the other a five- or six-foot python - back to the police station so they would not freeze.

Haas' girlfriend picked up the snakes and took them back to his breeding facility, he said.

A website for Haas' company, Shinja, says he breeds pythons and poison arrow dart frogs, with the snakes selling for up to $20,000.