Double shooting at E. Germantown school playground quickly leads to suspects

Two men are in stable condition after being shot on the grounds of an East Germantown middle school.

Just before 8 p.m. on Wednesday, officers from the 14th Police District responded to the 400 block of E. Tulpehocken St. for reported gunshots in the vicinity of Roosevelt Elementary/Middle School.

At about the same time, police were notified that two men had arrived at Albert Einstein Medical Center, transported by private vehicle, suffering from gunshot wounds.

The victims, both aged 22, were shot in the left leg and right leg respectively.

School-property crime scene and arrest

Surveying the expansive asphalt playground behind Roosevelt, police found 11 shell casings from a semi-automatic handgun, blood and what’s believed to be one of the victims’ cell phones.

Witnesses described the shooters as two males last seen driving a black Chevy Suburban. The SUV was stopped by police approximately a half-mile away near the intersection of Germantown Ave. and Herman St. Both the vehicle and its occupants were positively identified by an eyewitness.

The SUV and the vehicle that transported the victims to the hospital were being held by police on Wednesday night pending search warrants.

While police did not identify the two suspects, detectives were processing the scene at Roosevelt and interviewing the victims at the hospital later Wednesday night.

Chief Inspector Scott Small said that the motive for the shootings was not immediately apparent.

Tuesday night shooting

The previous night, another young man was wounded in a shooting incident less than a mile away.

Just before 10 p.m. Tuesday, a 20-year-old man was seated on the steps of an apartment complex in the 500 block of E. Upsal St. in East Mount Airy when he noticed two young men walking toward him wearing masks.

The complainant ran into the complex, and was struck by gunfire once in the left buttock.

The victim, who police did not identify, was transported by medics to AEMC where he was last listed in stable condition.

The suspects were described as being black males, both approximately 6-feet-tall, wearing all black clothing and masks.