Man killed on Germantown block where neighbors complained of drug activity

NewsWorks content partner NBC10 reported that a 27-year-old man suffered what would prove to be fatal injuries after being shot on the unit block of W. Pomona St. at 4:20 p.m. Monday.

A description of the shooter was not immediately available in NBC10’s report. Police reportedly sought a black 1998 Crown Victoria afterwards.

The victim was rushed to Albert Einstein Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead just before 4:40 p.m.

Problems on the block

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Just last month, Pomona Street residents turned to police and the West Mt. Airy Neighbors group for help with “serious drug problem.” They said their own neighborhood organization, the Pomona Cherokee Civic Association, didn’t do enough to quell the activity.

Residents said the drug dealers operate as a team with a complex watch system in which dealers can be quickly alerted of police presence, since Germantown Avenue is in plain sight.

They said illicit trade in their neighborhood was only part of the problem. Also of concern was the fact that gunfire sometimes results. However, it remained unclear Tuesday morning whether the fatal shots fired the night before were related to that activity.

Another Germantown shooting

In an unrelated case which occured about an hour later, the Philadelphia Daily News reported that “a 32-year-old man was shot and critically wounded at his pregnant fiancée’s house … while she and her three young children looked on.”

That incident occured inside a home near Keyser and Logan streets. The victim was listed in critical condition at Temple University Hospital later Monday night.

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